Abstract

Media is considered to be an essential tool for publicizing Paralympic sport as it influences the public’s ways of thinking about and understanding a sporting issue or event. However, disability and disability sport have been marginalized and trivialized by the mainstream media, and scholars have attributed the media’s weaker interest in and consequently smaller coverage of the Paralympics to the commercial logic and reporters’ perceptions of lack of audience interest and appeal. This study sought to address the lack of research on the visibility of the Paralympic sport and athletes in the Brazilian media and contribute to the scholarly debate on the media framing of the Paralympic sport and athletes. It examined the online news media content from two outlets, “Globo Esporte” and “BBC Brasil,” to discern the overarching patterns of the narrative. These patterns revealed contrasting frames that challenged the “elite” status of Paralympic sport and Games on the one hand while highlighting its potential to promote the social inclusion of disabled people and more positive attitudes toward them on the other