See the sport, not the disability: exploring the Paralympic paradox

Abstract

The Paralympic Games, a quadrennial global multi-sports competition for individuals with certain impairments, has increasingly become the focus of social scientific research. The aim of this paper is to explore the coexistence and subsequent tension between social interpretations of disability and elite sport as articulated in the context of the Paralympic Games. This is achieved through exploring members’ of the Paralympic community social perceptions of athletes involved in this elite disability sport competition. Empirical evidence suggests that Paralympic stakeholders possess a variety of opinions regarding the way in which sport and disability have been and should be articulated at the Paralympic Games. We use Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital to focus on the individual sportsperson’s body and the meanings derived and ascribed to it within the Paralympic Movement. In doing so, the authors develop the concept of the Paralympic paradox, which is a tension created by the representation of a Paralympian as either an impaired athlete or an athlete (with a disability). This concept is a useful tool in actively critiquing the images perpetuated in both mainstream and disability sports. In doing so, we are hopeful there will be a greater appreciation of elite disability sport on its own merits.

Keywords:

• body
• disability
• Paralympic
• sociology
• sport

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude towards members of the Paralympic community for their significant insights. Thanks also to the constructive comments received from the anonymous reviewers of previous versions of this paper.

Notes

1. Some exceptions to this rule do apply, for example the able-bodied men’s 800 m world record is 1:41.01 (see International Association of Athletics Federation 2010), slower than the Men’s T54 800 m world record of 1:32.17 (see IPC 2010).

2. The Lord Mayor’s Show is an annual three mile long procession conducted along the streets of the City of London, England in early November. It has been held for nearly eight hundred years and is a ceremonial public festival that marks the inauguration of a new Lord Mayor. For more information, please see: http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/introduction.