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(Dis)empowering Paralympic histories

Absent athletes and disabling discourses

Bibliographic Data

ID12313483
AuthorsDanielle Peers (0000-0001-9492-0171, University of Alberta, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume24
Issue5
Pages653-665
Publication date2009-07-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDisability & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-7599 • E-ISSN: 1360-0508
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09687590903011113
OpenAlexW2119226056
LanguageEN
Citations received48
References cited21

The reputation and publicity campaigns of the Paralympic Movement revolve largely around its role of empowering those with disabilities. This reputation is secured and reproduced by stories about what predated the Movement, how it began, how it progressed and whom this progress has served. In this paper I look critically at the more implicit discourses about Paralympic pasts that sustain the explicit contemporary discourse of Paralympic empowerment. I begin by analyzing the discursive effects of my own stories about becoming a Paralympian. I then turn my analysis to two histories of the Paralympic Movement: Steadward and Peterson’s Paralympics: Where heroes come and Bailey’s Athlete first: A history of the Paralympic Movement.I argue that these histories represent Paralympians as passive and that they marginalize Paralympians’ stories, undermine their resistances and reproduce the tragedy of disability

Aesthetics · Art · Athletes · Empowerment · Media studies · Movement (music · Political science · Power (physics · Publicity · Reputation · Social science · Sociology · Tragedy (event · Disability Rights and Representation · Gender Studies · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts

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Unique citing works48
Citations per year3,2
Citation span2011 - 2026 (16)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 47
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