障害者スポーツに関する言葉の認知度に関する研究

2014年～2021年度の推移に注目して

抄録

This study reveals changes in awareness of the following 15 words through internet surveys: ‘Olympics’, ‘Paralympics’, ‘Deaflympics’, ‘Special Olympics’, ‘wheelchair tennis’, ‘wheelchair basketball’, ‘boccia’, ‘goalball’, ‘Para badminton’, ‘classifier’, ‘guide runner’, ‘Olympic and Paralympic legacy’, ‘Paralympic education’, ‘inclusive society’ and ‘reasonable accommodation’. The four words ‘Olympic and Paralympic legacy’, ‘Paralympic education’, ‘inclusive society’ and ‘reasonable accommodation’ were included from the 2018 survey. The survey was conducted six times: in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The number of people surveyed each time was 2,066.

The results showed that awareness of the words ‘Olympics’ and ‘Paralympics’ had been high since the first survey in 2014. Over 95% people were aware of these two words and this tendency remained unchanged until the 2021 survey. Awareness of ‘wheelchair basketball’ and ‘wheelchair tennis’ was high at over 60% since the 2014 survey, with a gradual increase in awareness by 2021. ‘Boccia’, ‘goalball’, ‘Para badminton’ and ‘guide runner’ increased by more than 10 percentage points between the 2014 and 2021 surveys. In particular, ‘boccia’ had increased significantly from 1.9% to 46.2% and ‘Para badminton’ from 5.5% to 34.9%. Awareness of the three words ‘Deaflympics’, ‘Special Olympics’ and ‘classifier’ remained low and almost the same at less than 5% from 2014 to 2021. Of the three words included in the survey from 2018, ‘Paralympic education’ stayed almost the same with an increase of 1.8% over the three-year period, while ‘Olympic and Paralympic legacy’, ‘inclusive society’ and ‘reasonable accommodation’ increased gradually over the three-year period.

These increases in awareness are thought to be influenced by the amount of media coverage, such as on television and in newspapers, and the success of athletes such as winning medals at the Paralympic Games.

The increase in awareness of these words related to Para sports suggests that in terms of intangible legacies, the Paralympic Games in Japan left legacies particularly in terms of knowledge of sports and especially Para sports events.