Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The Paralympic movement was founded upon the notion that disability sport is a form of rehabilitative medical treatment for disabled people. However, scholars note that disability sport became less therapeutic and more athletic over time. I call attention to the overlooked role that Paralympians, i.e. Paralympic athletes, played as “intermediate activists” (Briscoe and Gupta 2016) in shifting Paralympic institutional logic from a “rehabilitative sport-logic” to a “sport logic” (Gerard et al. 2017). Using interview data collected from retired Paralympians and secondary historical sources, I evidence the importance of micro-level processes within the Paralympics that underlie the institution’s shift in logic, particularly during the 1980’s. I claim that Paralympians acted as intermediate activists by advancing the athletic standards of disability sport. Additionally, I describe how the Paralympics’ rehabilitative sport-logic constrained Paralympians’ abilities to innovate and raise the athletic standards of disability sport.