Who’s In and Who Is Out? Legitimate Bodies Within the Paralympic Games

Abstract

This paper explores issues surrounding the inclusion of impaired bodies within the Paralympic Games. To achieve this aim we use empirical data gathered from semistructured interviews held with a range of Paralympic stakeholders. The background upon which this data are analyzed is a critical analysis of the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC’s) current vision and mission. Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital (Bourdieu, 1997, 1984) provide the theoretical foundation upon which the analysis takes place. Discussion centers on Paralympic stakeholders’ articulations of issues surrounding individuals with cerebral palsy and/or severe physical impairments, emanating, in part, from a desire for aesthetically pleasing sporting performances. This paper gives Paralympic stakeholders a voice, upon which the IPC and broader sporting community may choose to reflect.

Sliding to Reverse Ableism: An Ethnographic Exploration of (Dis)ability in Sitting Volleyball

“…Within sporting spaces, athletic bodies are regulated and controlled through differentiation practices similar to the ones mentioned above. Some examples are: the close reproduction of the Olympic sporting model within all dimensions of the Paralympic Movements, such as competitive organization and schedule; the existence and validation of bodily hierarchies, determined by how close/distant athletes are from the able-bodied norm [39,40]. This differentiation is also manifested in the way competitions are still structured by impairment categories (i.e., athletics, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby), reproducing a medical approach to disability.…”

The Social Empowerment of Difference

“…individual sports such as athletics and swimming and team sports such as basketball), designed in the image of a normalised view of athletic bodies. The problem is, against the hegemonic power of this able-bodied ideal of athleticism, the disabled athletic body will continue to be seen as lacking elite sporting prowess, except for those individuals seen as supercrips, highly functioning athletes who have undergone the process of cyborgification [16][17][18] . The treatment of disabled athletes who cannot go through the process of cyborgification and be transformed into supercrips is not at all surprising since "The level of literacy about disability is so low as to be non-existent, and the ideology of ability is so much a part of every action, thought, judgment, and intention, that its hold on us is difficult to root out" 19(p9) .…”

“…The treatment of disabled athletes who cannot go through the process of cyborgification and be transformed into supercrips is not at all surprising since "The level of literacy about disability is so low as to be non-existent, and the ideology of ability is so much a part of every action, thought, judgment, and intention, that its hold on us is difficult to root out" 19(p9) . It is not surprising then, that the athletes whose impairments situate them further from the ablebodied norm 20 , receive less support, recognition, media attention and seem to be intentionally being excluded from the Paralympics 16,18 . In other words, in fighting disablism, emancipation and empowerment in parasport translates an emulation of able-bodiedness 15,21 ; and encourages athletes to hide their disability and pass as normal 19,22 .…”

“I Feel We are Inclusive Enough”: Examining Swimming Coaches’ Understandings of Inclusion and Disability

“…As we stated above, people with disabilities are often seen or viewed as a "drain" on public resources (Goodley, 2017;Goodley & Runswick-Cole, 2015) and sport is seen as one way of making the disabled body more productive through sport based rehabilitation and training (Howe & Jones, 2006;Howe & Silva, 2017;Jones & Howe, 2005;Purdue & Howe, 2013). Thus disability sport, is one "technology of government available" for disabled people to overcome "adversity" associated with their impairment (Braye, Dixon, & Gibbons, 2013), and arguably coaches work in sport is essential to supporting these objectives and thus re-enforcing and sustaining damaging "super crip narratives" 2 (e.g., Schalk, 2016;Shapiro, 1994).…”