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Paralympic Sport and Social Justice: Towards a Happy Marriage or Difficult Separation?

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Abstract

Over the last 25 years, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and its network of national affiliates have placed integration of disabled people firmly on the sporting agenda, a process widely regarded as a positive step. Access to high-performance sporting provision is, however, problematic for two reasons. Firstly, the nature of high-performance sport is such that some people will always be excluded due to a lack of ability and secondly, the vast number of athletes with a potential to be Paralympians and therefore part of Paralympic programmes are not individuals who are denied access to sporting provision. In terms of increasing access for vulnerable people in the Global South to physical exercise, inclusion and healthy lifestyles, Paralaympic programmes do not fulfil the requirements of a social justice agenda.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    T54 is an event classification. The “T” says that this is a track event. The “5” says that it is an event for a wheelchair athlete and the “4” means that the athlete is a highly mobile user of a wheelchair.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    P. David Howe

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  1. P. David Howe
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Correspondence to P. David Howe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Disability Studies Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Brian Watermeyer  & Judith McKenzie  & 

  2. Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Leslie Swartz

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David Howe, P. (2019). Paralympic Sport and Social Justice: Towards a Happy Marriage or Difficult Separation?. In: Watermeyer, B., McKenzie, J., Swartz, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Citizenship in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74675-3_14

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