1. (Un)imaginable (Para-)athletes: A Discourse Analysis of Athletics Websites in Canada.
- Author
-
Peers, Danielle, Konoval, Timothy, and Marsh Naturkach, Rebecca
- Subjects
- *
CONCEPTUAL structures , *DISCOURSE analysis , *SOCIAL integration , *SOCIAL participation , *WORLD Wide Web , *ATHLETIC associations , *PHYSICAL training & conditioning - Abstract
This Foucauldian discourse analysis engages DePauw's theory of disability and visibility to examine the construction of para-athletes within the websites of Canada's "fully integrated" athletics sport system. The authors found that para-athletes remain largely unimaginable within most athletics websites. When present, para-athletes are often only imagined as marginal participants, or marginalized through medical and charitable discourses. The authors offer examples of para-athletes being reimagined primarily as athletes, and some examples where (para-)athletics was reimagined by identifying and removing barriers to full participation. The authors close with some learning points that may enable sport practitioners to change how they discursively construct para-athletes and thus contribute to a less marginalizing and exclusionary sport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF