‘Everybody with Disability Should be Included’: A Qualitative Interview Study of Athletes’ Experiences of Disability Sports Participation Analysed with Ideas of Able-Mindedness

Abstract

Inspired by ideas of able-mindedness, this study explored athletes’ experiences of participation in disability sports. The athletes included were active members in sports clubs targeting people with intellectual disability. The study focused on their perspectives on and understanding of participation, as well as on their accounts of positioning and self-identification, in disability sports. In all, 17 athletes were interviewed. Using thematic analysis, three themes were singled out: identity construction and positioning, the (dis)able-minded athlete and facilitation of participation through others. The results show that participation influences identity construction and is a basis for a common athletic identity. This study offers important knowledge for the facilitation of participation and for the elucidation of able-mindedness in disability sports.

Keywords

• participation
• intellectual disability
• disability sports
• able-mindedness
• identity