The extraordinary development of sport for people with dis/abilities. What does it all mean?

Publication date: June 2018Source: Alter, Volume 12, Issue 2Author(s): Anne MarcelliniAbstractPhysical and sports practices represent a dimension of the social history of people with impairments that has become progressively visible, yet still little studied. Through the reading of socio-historical and sociological research on these practices, the author defends her contention that the development, recognition and social visibility of these individuals having been obtained by the sphere of “disability sport” are based on the convergence of two “tool boxes” for innovation: the organization of athlete classification and the “technologization” of the impaired body. Both of these innovatory mechanisms are controversial and subject to continuous experimentation in “sport for the disabled”. The social world of “disability sport” having been decoded, it comes across as a practical utopia, a heterotopia.RésuméLes pratiques physiques et sportives sont une facette de l’histoire sociale des personnes ayant des déficiences, devenue progressivement visible, mais pourtant encore peu étudiée. Au travers d’une relecture de travaux sociohistoriques et sociologiques menés sur ces pratiques, l’auteur défend la thèse selon laquelle le développement rapide, la reconnaissance et la visibilité sociale acquise aujourd’hui par le monde du « sport-handicap » repose sur le croisement de deux dispositifs d’innovation qui habitent le monde du sport des personne...
Source: ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research - Category: Disability Source Type: research