Changing perceptions of disability through sport: the case of Singaporean wheelchair basketball

Abstract

The Wheelchair Basketball Association of Singapore (WBAS) was formed in 2007 with the vision of promoting societal awareness of disability and encouraging interaction on the basketball court between people with and without disabilities. This paper investigates the prevailing attitudes of Singaporeans towards disability today and ascertains how Singaporean wheelchair basketball has so far impacted this. Two key personnel in the WBAS organization were interviewed to provide an informed perspective on the general opinions of both the government and the Singaporean public with regard to people with disabilities (PWDs). A semi-structured interview format was utilized with a grounded theory approach used to analyse the data. In addition, one of the authors became a person without disability player in the WBAS so that insider interviews and focus groups with athletes with disabilities could be conducted. Results demonstrate that efforts to outreach and educate Singaporeans, particularly its youth, about disability are present. However, there is a great deal of work to do. The authors recommend that more action research involving government, institutional and community levels be coordinated to construct policies to further work towards promoting societal awareness of disability and encouraging interaction with people with disabilities.

Keywords:

• Wheelchair basketball
• social model of disability
• people with disabilities