“I forget I have a disability”: Understanding young peoples’ experiences in disability sport and active recreation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Catriona McBean (2023) PhD thesis Doctor of Philosophy in Health, Sport and Human Performance, The University of Waikato.
https://hdl.handle.net/10289/15535
ABSTRACT
In Aotearoa NZ, although 1 in 4 people identify as disabled, participation rates of young people with impairments (YPwI) in sport and active recreation is lower than their non-disabled peers. Over the last 85 years, the Aotearoa NZ Government has been aware of this disparity and has attempted through policy intervention to increase participation. However, the Aotearoa NZ sport system is inherently ableist and these policies have been ineffectual. Fortunately, opportunities for YPwI to participate in sport and active recreation do exist especially at the local club level.
Drawing on the social relational model of disability, I give agency to the voices of four YPwI, their parents and coaches/leaders. Through their lived experiences in sport and active recreation, these participants present unique narratives on how participating with non-disabled young people have shaped the YPwI’s experiences. From their experiences, I sought to understand how sport organisations can improve opportunities for YPwI’s participation within a sport system dominated by ableism and where discrimination through disablism goes unchallenged.
The sport system, as a reflection of society, has a responsibility to address the inherent ableism endemic within sport and active recreation and reposition disability as a priority. Building on previous research focused on personal and societal barriers and constraints to participation, I challenge the dominance of activity adaptation and modification as a means for systemic change. To achieve an anti-ableist sport system, what is needed is more fundamental – an improved understanding of disability, flexibility around prescriptive ableist standards and rules, and increased accessibility to opportunities where YPwI can exhibit their capabilities. Integral to providing quality opportunities for YPwI, change in how the sport system considers and represents YPwI, from policy through to practice. I caution organisations to avoid enlightened ableism – where what is said and what is done are misaligned.
I present an anti-ableist framework, co-created with the YPwI, as a way of improving disability sport provision in Aotearoa NZ that enables the social relational model to be actualised within a sport and active recreation context. The framework presented encapsulates three levels – individual, organisation and system – premised on enhancing the knowledge and understanding of disability, creating more flexibility around what participation means to YPwI and how deliverers of sport and active recreation, regardless of size or capacity, can work individually and/or collaboratively to provide more opportunities for YPwI.
An historical analysis of disability sport policy in Aotearoa New Zealand
Catriona McBean, Robert C. Townsend & Kirsten Petrie (2022): An historical analysis of disability sport policy in Aotearoa New Zealand, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics
DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2022.2052147
ABSTRACT
The role of central government in disability sport in Aotearoa New Zealand has never been reviewed in depth. In this paper, drawing on archival data we outline the evolution of disability sport policy, highlighting key initiatives of government sport agencies from 1937 to the contemporary disability sport policy landscape. Evolving with the rise of the social model of disability, these policies are considered a necessary response to an historical invisibility of disabled people in sport. We highlight a landscape that is complicated by significant diffusion of power between government and ‘not-for-profit’ organisations responsible for the provision of sport for disabled people. Within this contested landscape and with the historical weight of policy, disabled people in NZ continue to report exclusion, marginalisation and lower levels of participation, suggesting a disconnect between policy and its enactment. We introduce the concept of ‘enlightened ableism’ to illustrate that while progressive ideals are embedded in disability policy, there are still challenges for achieving true inclusive practice. Furthermore, lessons learned from previous policy failures suggest that while the future of disability sport in NZ looks well placed to facilitate increased participation, it is worth questioning the extent to which ableism is structured into the fabric of disability sport.
We are in the team 