5
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.
| The author does mention that Ableism intersects with other oppressions and often used to justify negative ‘isms’. I feel like this means that in some cases that a person may be disabled there disability is almost disregarded. Instead, another form of oppression is brought up so that there disability is not acknowledged.
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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.
| I was no super surprised by my results. My results showed that I had no automatic preference between abled and disabled people. I think I expected this. As I try to see everyone for who they are and not their abilities. I enjoyed taking this test. I think I is a great tool for people to see where they are on the spectrum.
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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.
| Medical Model: The medical model at looking at disability, sees the individual as someone that needs to be fixed. Blame is put on the individual or the individuals ‘lack or ablitiy’ rather than looking at society as the problem.
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B) On Disability
Exercise 4: Complete the Activities
Which are not defining characteristics of the medical model
- focus on surrounding environment
- focus on removing barriers
The social model of disability argues that society disables people by imposing Restrictions and barriers through attitudes that exclude disabled people from full participation in society. As such it focuses on disabling environments rather than impairment
The social model focuses on removing disabling barriers/obstacles instead of medical interventiom
Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt
What do Fitzgerald and Long identify as barriers to inclusion and how might these apply to sport in particular?
In the reading they identify 3 locations that disabled people occupy in sport. However, the locations impose barriers on people with disabilities in different ways. One being barrier being restrictions. Different restrictions to participate are being put on people with disabilities. Restrictions can include anything from not meeting the ‘normal standards’ to participate in mainstream sport to not being able to access sport. Along with is, sport for disabled people is seen as ‘below; sport for abled people. There is littler recognition in sporting leagues for people with disability leading to an invisibility of sporting for them.
C) Inclusion, Integration, Separatio
which of the following is premised on the social model of disability?
inclusion
Exercise 6: Complete the Activities
Inclusion: Having people included in the activity but also having their needs taken into account so they are able to participate fully
integration : Having people in being included in the activity but not necessarily accommodated for their needs
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. is sport for participation or competition?
I think sport is ultimately for participation. I believe that sport should be for participation, it is played for a number of reasons specific to the person. Some people play for the social aspect, for fitness, for fun, for better mental health. Sport should be accessible to everyone and when it is closed off which it tends to be, it is hard for many people to access. I do think that sport can develop into competition however that should not be the goal. In regards to disability, I think it would be much easier to include everyone in sport if it is not at a comp level. Ideas of what is fair and what is not come into play when we add a level of competitiveness. To avoid people with different abilities being left out we should have the ‘rules’ be more flexible and I feel like that is easier to do when sport is primarly for participation.
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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?
true
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
| After watching the Murderball film, I think it did a great job in showing how capable people are of participating in “normal” sporting activities. I do not think that murderball reinforces ableist norms. I think the fil showed individual struggles some of the athletes faced when it came to their disability. They also shared personal accounts where they were viewed by others as not being able to do certain things. For example when they two athletes went to a recovery facility to let some of the people who are going through rehab try the murderball wheelchair, some of the nurses referred to their patients as being ‘too fragile’. Many of the athletes proved that this is not the case and reinforced that they are able to participate in sport and rough sport too.
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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 understood after reading the bloggers critique that, people who have disabilities are not obligated to be a ‘spokesperson’ of disability. They do not have to be this person who is uplifting the community because in some cases these people just want to participate in what they love without being the face of disabled athletes
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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)
| I do think that the murderball film plays into the supercrip narrative. I think that part of the film did a good job telling the stories of the athletes and their individual perspectives on the sport but I also think that a lot of the film was showing the supercrip narrative. Being that a disabled athlete is going ‘above and beyond’ their own limits and inspiring. Even if that is not how the athletes wanted to be portrayed.
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