Greg Wilmot - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Greg Wilmot
Purpose: To describe how athletes with disabilities talk about their experiences of participating... more Purpose: To describe how athletes with disabilities talk about their experiences of participating in competitive disability sport in South Africa. Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 athletes with disabilities. Data were analysed via thematic content analysis using an inductive data driven process. Results: Participants described their involvement in competitive sport as a positive experience; they described it as a catalyst for the recasting of identities and reframing an understanding of physical impairment, a context for empowerment and resistance of disablist attitudes, and an arena in which a sense of inclusion and belonging is experienced. However, their narratives also lay bare something of the struggle on the part of persons with disabilities to be seen as fully human and reveal how participants reproduce some unhelpful disablist discourses. Conclusions: There are complex contradictions and cross-currents in the way athletes with disabilities describe their participation in competitive disability sport. These narratives highlight political and ideological tensions about inclusion and representation and remind us of the need to document the experiences of persons with disabilities and the potential dangers inherent in idealizing disability sport.
Purpose: To describe how athletes with disabilities talk about their experiences of participating... more Purpose: To describe how athletes with disabilities talk about their experiences of participating in competitive disability sport in South Africa. Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 athletes with disabilities. Data were analysed via thematic content analysis using an inductive data driven process. Results: Participants described their involvement in competitive sport as a positive experience; they described it as a catalyst for the recasting of identities and reframing an understanding of physical impairment, a context for empowerment and resistance of disablist attitudes, and an arena in which a sense of inclusion and belonging is experienced. However, their narratives also lay bare something of the struggle on the part of persons with disabilities to be seen as fully human and reveal how participants reproduce some unhelpful disablist discourses. Conclusions: There are complex contradictions and cross-currents in the way athletes with disabilities describe their participation in competitive disability sport. These narratives highlight political and ideological tensions about inclusion and representation and remind us of the need to document the experiences of persons with disabilities and the potential dangers inherent in idealizing disability sport.