De kommer applådera ändå - En etnologisk undersökning av paraidrotten och dess förutsättningar i en föränderlig tid

Abstract

This thesis examines the Swedish para sport movement of today, with a focus on elite athletes and the ongoing inclusion work done by the Swedish sport movement. The questions asked are how the athletes came into contact with para sport and how they started an elite investment? But also what it is that defines para sports in Sweden, what classification does to the athletes, the amount of media coverage and how media portray the athletes and how the ongoing inclusion work is going and how it affects the athletes and the para sport movement as a whole? It uses theories from crip theory and phenomenology, as well as theories on discourses and neoliberalism. An elite investment in sports is not part of the given lifeline for people with disabilities, and for para sport and the athletes to meet they need to be oriented towards each other. Neoliberalism's flexible ableism constructs some people as able bodied and others as disabled, and treats them differently. This affects a lot of the aspects mentioned above, from the route to an elite investment to the media representations. This flexible ableism constructs the para athletes as marginalized subjects and inclusion is always limited and temporary. The para sport movement has a deep connection to rehabilitation. It makes the emphasis on the operations to be on things like health, joy and togetherness, instead of results and medals. Thus making it easier for the rest of the sport movement to strive for inclusion, without risking the able bodied athletes privileges. On one hand this makes it hard to make an elite investment in para sports, but on the other hand it makes para sport a form of safespace. This role as a safespace is threatened by the ongoing inclusion work.