| dc.description.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. | en_US |
