Factors of Empowerment and Disempowerment of the Paralympic Movement for Partially Sighted Footballers

Abstract

The current vision of the Paralympic movement is to make for an inclusive world through Para-sport. It is therefore essential for not only Paralympic athletes, but also non-Paralympic athletes with an impairment, to be empowered by the movement. Research studies are yet to fully clarify how these non-Paralympic athletes with an impairment are empowered or disempowered by the Paralympic Games. The aim of this research is to clarify factors of empowerment and disempowerment for non-Paralympic athletes with an impairment by the Paralympic movement, focusing onnational-level partially sighted footballers. Qualitative data was recovered from a semi-structured interview for 9 subjects analyzed with thematic analysis. The data indicated that the current Paralympic movement empowers the subjects by contributing to increasing the general awareness of impairment and Para-sport. On the other hand, the subjects were conscious about the perceived gaps of circumstance, media representation, evaluation, recognition, etc. between subjects and Paralympic athletes which consequently disempower the subjects. Furthermore, the data indicated that the current Paralympic Games are mainly represented by athletes who often have visible symbols (such as wheelchairs) representing their impairment. This poses the question as to whether the Paralympic Games has the ability to enlighten people in society to fully understand people and athletes with an impairment who do not have visible symbols representing their impairment (such as partially sighted footballers).