James Brighton
Biographic Data
| ID | 4220926 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James Brighton |
| GIVEN NAMES | James |
| FAMILY NAME | Brighton |
| SIGNATURE | BRIGHTON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Canterbury Christ Church University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7282-8558 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The post-podium athlete body
This arts-based autoethnography centres on the lived experiences of a mother athlete returning to high-performance sport more than a decade after a career as an international medal-winning swimmer. Applying McCall’s intracategorical intersectional framework, it explores the intersections of age, motherhood, and embodied trauma, as experienced in an elite context where past harms occurred. Using poetic and visual methods (i.e. drawings), this stud…
Sensory methodologies and disabled sporting embodiment
In this paper, we centre the senses and sensory methodologies in researching disabled sporting embodiment and make suggestions for how such approaches can inform research and practice in physical education (PE). Firstly, we conceptualise sensory research and illustrate its value in revealing the embodied experiences of disabled bodies in sport and PE. Specifically, we advocate the use of sensory research in: (i) developing multifaceted, complex, …
Beyond the boundaries of humour
Normalised within the social fabric of cricket, sledging is a form of gamesship where players aim verbal jousts at one another in order to gain a competitive advantage. Both intimidatory and humorous, existing research into sledging has focused on non-disabled cricketers without considering the experiences of those that do not match this corporeal norm. Accordingly, in this paper we offer the first exploration of sledging as experienced by disabl…
No one wants to be the washed-up ex-cricketer sitting at the bar getting pissed talking of the good old days
In spite of current literature illuminating the challenges professional athletes encounter when transitioning into new careers, very little research has focused on the experiences of professional cricketers. To rectify this situation, this study explores how a group of professional cricketers in England experienced retirement from their sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former county (7) and international (3) male players who …
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
My body was no longer a problem’
Disability is often overlooked in discussions of green exercise. Consequently, we still know little about how ableist ideologies might play out in the context of nature engagement, or the forms of pleasure that disabled people derive from participation in green spaces. In this paper, we address this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between electric mountain biking and disability in England (UK). Adopting the work of Bernard Sti…
Who is “Us” in “Nothing About Us Without US”? Rethinking the Politics of Disability Research
No abstract available
Researching Disability Sport
In this chapter, the authors map the theorisation of disability sport. They highlight the theoretical deprivation in the contemporary field and reflect upon lack of guidance on how disability theory can be used in sport and physical activity research. Fittingly, the remainder of the chapter is just that: a comprehensive and engaging theoretical overview, which includes I) the foundations of disability studies movement and the emergence of critica…
‘I am proud of my back’
Little is known about why disabled athletes choose to modify their bodies and the meanings that these modifications have for them. Drawing on data from a larger 4-year ethnographic study, we focus on the motivations and meanings of five athletes who had become disabled due to spinal cord injury (SCI) for tattooing their bodies in specific ways. Our analysis illuminates the following key themes as being significant in the body modification choices…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
Autonomic dysreflexia and boosting in disability sport
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a potentially life-threatening condition unique to individuals with spinal cord injury above the sixth thoracic spinal level. When this condition is induced by spinal cord injured athletes to enhance performance it is known as boosting. Given that little is known about this practice from the perspectives of the athletes themselves, we draw upon interview data with a sample of male, spinal cord injured, wheelchair ath…
‘It’s a part of me’
In much research dealing with sport technologies and the process of cyborgification there is a significant lack of attention given to the experiences of athletes themselves. This is particularly so for disabled athletes. Against this backdrop of neglect, we draw on data generated from a 4-year ethnographic study that explored the experiences and meanings of disability sport for those who became involved in it following a spinal cord injury, and h…
Imperfect Perfection and Wheelchair Bodybuilding
This article explores the impact of the binary configuration of disabled bodies as opposite and unequal to able bodies, and whether or not contemporary bodybuilding provides a space where this dualism can be overcome. Drawing on life history interviews with Dan, a professional wheelchair bodybuilder, we consider how his hyper-muscular upper body may position him as a supercrip and thereby reinforce bodily and gender norms. Simultaneously, Dan's p…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
My body was no longer a problem’
Disability is often overlooked in discussions of green exercise. Consequently, we still know little about how ableist ideologies might play out in the context of nature engagement, or the forms of pleasure that disabled people derive from participation in green spaces. In this paper, we address this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between electric mountain biking and disability in England (UK). Adopting the work of Bernard Sti…
Imperfect Perfection and Wheelchair Bodybuilding
This article explores the impact of the binary configuration of disabled bodies as opposite and unequal to able bodies, and whether or not contemporary bodybuilding provides a space where this dualism can be overcome. Drawing on life history interviews with Dan, a professional wheelchair bodybuilder, we consider how his hyper-muscular upper body may position him as a supercrip and thereby reinforce bodily and gender norms. Simultaneously, Dan's p…
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
‘It’s a part of me’
In much research dealing with sport technologies and the process of cyborgification there is a significant lack of attention given to the experiences of athletes themselves. This is particularly so for disabled athletes. Against this backdrop of neglect, we draw on data generated from a 4-year ethnographic study that explored the experiences and meanings of disability sport for those who became involved in it following a spinal cord injury, and h…
Imperfect Perfection and Wheelchair Bodybuilding
This article explores the impact of the binary configuration of disabled bodies as opposite and unequal to able bodies, and whether or not contemporary bodybuilding provides a space where this dualism can be overcome. Drawing on life history interviews with Dan, a professional wheelchair bodybuilder, we consider how his hyper-muscular upper body may position him as a supercrip and thereby reinforce bodily and gender norms. Simultaneously, Dan's p…
Autonomic dysreflexia and boosting in disability sport
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a potentially life-threatening condition unique to individuals with spinal cord injury above the sixth thoracic spinal level. When this condition is induced by spinal cord injured athletes to enhance performance it is known as boosting. Given that little is known about this practice from the perspectives of the athletes themselves, we draw upon interview data with a sample of male, spinal cord injured, wheelchair ath…
‘I am proud of my back’
Little is known about why disabled athletes choose to modify their bodies and the meanings that these modifications have for them. Drawing on data from a larger 4-year ethnographic study, we focus on the motivations and meanings of five athletes who had become disabled due to spinal cord injury (SCI) for tattooing their bodies in specific ways. Our analysis illuminates the following key themes as being significant in the body modification choices…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
Researching Disability Sport
In this chapter, the authors map the theorisation of disability sport. They highlight the theoretical deprivation in the contemporary field and reflect upon lack of guidance on how disability theory can be used in sport and physical activity research. Fittingly, the remainder of the chapter is just that: a comprehensive and engaging theoretical overview, which includes I) the foundations of disability studies movement and the emergence of critica…
Who is “Us” in “Nothing About Us Without US”? Rethinking the Politics of Disability Research
No abstract available
My body was no longer a problem’
Disability is often overlooked in discussions of green exercise. Consequently, we still know little about how ableist ideologies might play out in the context of nature engagement, or the forms of pleasure that disabled people derive from participation in green spaces. In this paper, we address this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between electric mountain biking and disability in England (UK). Adopting the work of Bernard Sti…
Beyond the boundaries of humour
Normalised within the social fabric of cricket, sledging is a form of gamesship where players aim verbal jousts at one another in order to gain a competitive advantage. Both intimidatory and humorous, existing research into sledging has focused on non-disabled cricketers without considering the experiences of those that do not match this corporeal norm. Accordingly, in this paper we offer the first exploration of sledging as experienced by disabl…
No one wants to be the washed-up ex-cricketer sitting at the bar getting pissed talking of the good old days
In spite of current literature illuminating the challenges professional athletes encounter when transitioning into new careers, very little research has focused on the experiences of professional cricketers. To rectify this situation, this study explores how a group of professional cricketers in England experienced retirement from their sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former county (7) and international (3) male players who …
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
The post-podium athlete body
This arts-based autoethnography centres on the lived experiences of a mother athlete returning to high-performance sport more than a decade after a career as an international medal-winning swimmer. Applying McCall’s intracategorical intersectional framework, it explores the intersections of age, motherhood, and embodied trauma, as experienced in an elite context where past harms occurred. Using poetic and visual methods (i.e. drawings), this stud…
Sensory methodologies and disabled sporting embodiment
In this paper, we centre the senses and sensory methodologies in researching disabled sporting embodiment and make suggestions for how such approaches can inform research and practice in physical education (PE). Firstly, we conceptualise sensory research and illustrate its value in revealing the embodied experiences of disabled bodies in sport and PE. Specifically, we advocate the use of sensory research in: (i) developing multifaceted, complex, …
Psychology (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Disability Rights and Representation (7 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Athletes (6 works) · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport (5 works) · Physical therapy (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works)