5 Chapter Five: Accessing Sport
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 negative “isms” refer to the way in which social norms contribute to factors of intersectionality. Abelism is a word used to describe acts of discrimination against people with disabilities. Social norms can affect ableism because we as a society often overlook people with disabilities. This can happen in almost every aspect of life, such as walking, driving, or especially playing sports. What society fails to understand is that just because someone is a little bit different does not mean they cannot do the same things everyone else does. I would also argue that parts of ableism do come from a good place, although they may not produce good outcomes. What I mean by this is a lot of the time when someone who is not disabled sees someone who is, they just want to help. For example, there is a person in one of my in-person classes with a physical disability who claims that people often hold the door open for them. They say that they think this happens often because people have a perception that they cannot do it for themselves when, in reality, they can.
All in all, I think what the authors mean when they justify ableism as a negative “ism” is that social norms affect people who are disabled. Ableism does have its differences from other “isms” such as racism and sexism, but those differences are important to address.
|
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.
| My responses suggested a slight automatic preference for Physically Abled People over Physically Disabled People. I am a little bit surprised about this answer just because I feel that I am pretty neutral about this topic.
I understand what this test is doing, although I am not sure if it is completely accurate because sometimes I just get confused with which button I was supposed to be pressing. I am also a little bit competitive – the test said to answer as fast as you can, and I might have put my speed over my accuracy sometimes. I don’t think I associate good/basic adjectives with being abled/disabled; I just think sometimes my fingers got confused putting some of the adjectives in a certain category. All in all, this was a cool test – something I have never come across. I understand that some biases could show through this test by certain people associating certain adjectives with abled and disabled people.
|
B) Keywords
Exercise 3:
Add the keyword you contributed to padlet and briefly (50 words max) explain its importance to you.
| Disability
Disability is a broad word for physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory, and they can be temporary or permanent. Disabilities can result from a variety of causes such as birth conditions, illness, injury, or age. People with disability’s experiences can be shaped by the environment they are in, social attitudes, and support systems. The word disabilities is important to me because there are so many kinds of disabilities. A few of my friends and family members have disabilities. Each disability I have seen in my life is very different in how it affects the person, how it started, and how the disability is experienced. Overall, I chose to write about the word disability because it is such a broad term for something that can have a lot of influence over someone’s life (in some cases).
|
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?
Social and cultural barriers, such as stereotypes and biases, can prevent people with disabilities from being fully included in sports. structural barriers, such as systemic issues, can also contribute to barriers to inclusion in sports. An example of a structural barrier could be a lack of access to accessible sports leagues. finally, economic status can contribute to barriers to inclusion. Many families do not have the funds for aspects of sports such as equipment, coaches, and team fees, which can prevent people who come from a lower income family from playing sports.
All of these barriers can apply to sports because they all contribute to limited opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in sports. To add, removing these barriers would help to achieve inclusion through sports. To conclude, some of the barriers to inclusion which apply to sports include social and cultural, structural, and economic.
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?
I believe that only someone who has a disability should be able to answer question one. I am not a person with any form of disability; therefore, it should not be up to me. If a person with a disability feel comfortable playing in a league that is not specifically for people with disabilities, I think they should be able to make the choice of playing in that league. I also think there should always be the option for someone with a disability to join a league specifically for people with disabilities. The only issue I foresee with people with disabilities playing in leagues that are not specifically designed for them is the possibility of injury for both able-bodied people and people with a disability. All in all, if it is safe to do so and the person with a disability would like to play in a league not specifically for disability, it think they should be able to do so.
|
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
| I agree with the third statement, Murderball does neither of these things. Instead, I think Murderball shows viewers that athletes with disabilities can still be masculine and can break stereotypes about disability. Some of the common stereotypes about people with disabilities include: they are weak, they cannot do the things able-bodied people can do, they are not motivated, etc. These stereotypes about disability directly contrast with norms of masculinity. Norms of masculinity include being strong, being muscular, not showing emotion, etc. Murderball directly challenges these stereotypes rooted in ableism through showing audience members that sport is more than possible even if an individual is differently abled. This documentary shows this in two ways, one being the adjusted point system the sport uses, and two being adding glue onto the ball. With just a little bit of tweaking, the sport equity is shown through quad rugby and proves to the audience that athletes in this documentary do not align with stereotypes about disability. Murderball also directly challenges these stereotypes by showing audience members just how physical and competitive quadriplegic rugby is. Mark Zupan is a prime example of a masculine identity by showing he is tough, assertive and competitive identity, which are identities associated with being able-bodied. To conclude, Murderball breaks down stereotypes of disability that intersect with masculinity.
|
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.
| Per the announcement on Blackboard, I based my final assignment on this module, so instead I did longer prompts for modules 4 and 6.
|
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)
|
|
