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Section one: The fundamentals
A)
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
Many of you are likely familiar with the concept of “ability inequity,” which the authors of this article define as “an unjust or unfair (a) ‘distribution of access to and protection from abilities generated through human interventions’ or (b) ‘judgment of abilities intrinsic to biological structures such as the human body’.”
However, they go on to identify the following “ability concepts” that are less familiar:
1) ability security (one is able to live a decent life with whatever set of abilities one has)
2) ability identity security (to be able to be at ease with ones abilities)
How prevalent are these forms of security among disabled people you know? Or, if you identify as a disabled person, would you say your social surroundings and community foster and support these kinds of security? Furthermore, while the focus of the article is on Kinesiology programs, it is also important to reflect on how academia in general accommodates for disability. If you feel comfortable answering this question, what has been your experience of postsecondary education to date?
-OR-
The authors also observe that “Ableism not only intersects with other forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, ageism, and classism, but abilities are often used to justify such negative ‘isms’.”
What do you think this means? Provide an example.
| I think it ties in with negative ‘isms’ as it is usually a prejudice when someone is being ableism, they are assuming someone can do something and prejudice is usually associated with all of these negative concepts. You assume things based on what you observe or what your own abilities are, and that since these things apply to you, they apply to everyone.
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Exercise 2: Implicit Bias Test
Did anything surprise you about the results of the test? Please share if you’re comfortable OR comment on the usefulness of these kinds of tests more generally.
| These tests aren’t useful. They have right or wrong answers for something that’s supposed to be subjective. How can you get a different result when there are correct and incorrect answers. I also don’t understand the use of a test like this? what does this achieve?
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B) Keywords
Exercise 3:
Add the keyword you contributed to padlet and briefly (50 words max) explain its importance to you.
| Ableism:
Ableism refers to ability-based expectations. Essentially those who are able bodied discriminate against those who are disabled and treat them poorly. This is perpetuated by societies lack of support and acknowledgement of those with disabilities which continues the othering they experience. the term ableism is important to me because it’s important to understand how we can better our society for everyone, and it’s good to slowly see improvement in the world.
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B) On Disability
Exercise 4: Complete the Activities
Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt
What do Fitzgerald and Long identify as barriers to inclusion and how might these apply to sport in particular?
The reinforcement of low self esteem, and self confidence as well as the fear of standing out and not being able to keep up with non-disabled people. Another barrier is non-disabled people being uncomfortable with disabled people or not getting along with them. The reinforcement of low self esteem and confidence can come from different abilities while playing sports alongside non-disabled people. This can also be furthered by non-disabled people being frustrated with disabled people and their different capabilities with sports as they may not be able to reach the same level of play as quickly as someone who’s able bodied.
C) Inclusion, Integration, Separation
Exercise 6: Complete the Activities
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
Choose ONE of the three questions Fitzgerald and Long argue disability sport needs to address and record your thoughts in your Notebook.
- Should sport be grouped by ability or disability?
- Is sport for participation or competition?
- Should sport competitions be integrated?
| 2. I think sport can be for either and that it’s good to have different leagues depending on an individual’s preference. If they want to play competitively then they can choose to, and if not they can play on an open level team. Of course there’s always an aspect of competition in sport which can be good to a point, but participation is crucial to have sports. everyone should be able to participate in sports if they choose, and having different leagues such as competitive or open can open up more opportunities. I think I would’ve stopped playing soccer if there was only competitive rep style soccer, as I found open level teams way more fun.
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Part Two: Making Connections
A) Gender, Sport and Disability
Exercise 8: Complete the Activity
The paradox that sportswomen habitually face (as the authors observe, this isn’t confined to disabled sportswomen) involves the expectation they will be successful in a ‘masculine’ environment while complying with femininity norms in order to be recognized as a woman.
True or false?
Take a moment to reflect on this paradox below (optional).
B) Masculinity, Disability, and Murderball
Exercise 9: Notebook/Padlet Prompt
Watch the film, Murderball and respond to the question in the padlet below (you will have an opportunity to return to the film at the end of this module).
The authors of “Cripping Sport and Physical Activity: An Intersectional Approach to Gender and Disability” observe that the “gendered performance of the wheelchair rugby players can…be interpreted as a form of resistance to marginalized masculinity” (332) but also point out that it may reinforce “ableist norms of masculinity.” After viewing the film, which argument do you agree with?
a) Murderball celebrates a kind of resistance to marginalized masculinity
| b) murderball reinforces ableist norms of masculinity. It does so by creating an environment of aggression and competition between these men, as sports do. This shows that there are still opportunities to show off your masculinity even if you are differently abled compared to non-disabled people. There is also a sections of men discussing sex as disabled people, which is also another masculine stereotype. They hit sex, sports, aggression, showing off as some of the stereotypes with masculinity. The coach Joe also displayed having a strong push on his son to play sports and show limited interest in his musical abilities or success in school for most of the documentary. These are also those masculine father stereotypes of the son having to play sports.
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Section Three: Taking a Shot
A) Resistance
B) Calling out Supercrip
Exercise 10: Mini Assignment (worth 5% in addition to the module grade)
1) Do you agree with the critique of the “supercrip” narrative in this video? Why or why not? Find an example of the “supercrip” Paralympian in the 2024 Paris Paralympics or Special Olympics coverage and explain how it works.
| I just realized I misunderstood the explanation on the actual module notebook prompt and thought the extra credit was the mini assignment for some reason. This is the module I wanted to do the final assignment on.
I do agree with the critique of the video, they are emphasizing that disabled people are different than non-disabled people. They are representing a lot of different disabilities and this is at least some coverage of disability, however, it is understandable to be upset at the focus of being different, which as the blog said they are trying to get rid of. They also are displaying a lot of extremely fortunate athletes as not everyone has the ability to train to “overcome” their disability. Also this video is almost acting like all of the problems of inclusion and the treatment of those with disabilities is solved, when it is still extremely common. As the blog says, although you might be able to get into the sport, if you retire they probably won’t let you become a coach because you are limited in what you can do. Madison de Rozario, double paralympic gold medalist, states that you can’t view a disability as something that’s good or bad, it just is. A poll regarding the media coverage of the 2024 paralympic games found that disabled people wanted it to continue if it had a positive effect on non-disabled people’s attitude towards disability. https://criplife.co.uk/redefining-inspiration-the-evolving-narrative-of-paralympic-athletes/ |
2) Does the film Murderball play into the supercrip narrative in your opinion? How does gender inform supercrip (read this blog for some ideas)?
(300 words for each response)
| The murderball film plays a little into the supercrip narrative, but not nearly as much as the paralympic video. The guys they introduced appeared as average people, and not special athletes like the Olympics portrays. The part where there is some aspect of the supercrip narrative is where not all disabled people have the ability to join this sport and play like them. Some have different abilities than these guys, and there is a lot of “if you put your mind to it you, you can overcome anything” attitude in the film. In some cases this isn’t true and could have a negative effect on an audience. supercrip also mainly includes males at the center of attention, every disabled person in Murderball was a young male, and a lot of famous disabled people are male like stevie wonder and Ray Charles (as mentioned in the blog). The blog also mentions that the representations of disability are centered towards disabled people who act like non-disabled people, they are strong and muscular, independent and tough guys who appear to be pretty much unaffected by their disabilities. In most cases of disability this isn’t the case, they’re representing one type of disability.
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