Females With Visual Impairments in Physical Education: Exploring the Intersection Between Disability and Gender Identities

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use an explicitly intersectional approach to examine the embodied experiences of individuals identifying as female and as having a visual impairment in school-based physical education. Method: An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research approach was used, and 8 adult women (ages 21–30 years) with visual impairments acted as participants for this study. The primary sources of data were semistructured audiotaped telephone interviews and reflected field notes. Data were analyzed thematically using a 3-step analytical process inspired by IPA. Results: Based on the data analysis, 3 interrelated themes were constructed from the participant transcripts. The first theme, “Girls don’t like gym anyway”: limited participation from the female perspective, described the participants’ experiences with limited participation and the influence of gender and visual impairment on these limitations. The second theme, “She can’t do what other kids can do”: teachers’ expectations and unable bodies, described how the participants’ unable or flawed bodies influenced their teachers’ expectations of their abilities in physical education. The final theme, “It was really awkward”: feelings about negative peer interactions, demonstrated participants’ embodied perspectives toward bullying and other negative peer interactions. Conclusions: Utilizing an IPA approach, the researchers constructed 3 themes that exposed central experiences and reflections that were informed by the participants’ identified gender and disability. Through the lens of intersectionality, these themes contribute to our understanding of how multiple identities (femaleness, visual impairment) contributed to disadvantages in physical education contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Intersectionality
• Femininity
• Blindness
• Adapted physical activity