Para Athletics
UNDERSTANDING DISABILITY
The Models of Disability
To begin to understand disability sport contexts, it’s important to first examine how disability is understood in our society.
1. The medical model of disability puts the emphasis on the person’s disability and links the body to a diagnosis and places emphasis on medical intervention as a way of solving or eliminating the impairment or condition (Leduc, Disfigured, 2020). The impairment is seen as the problem and something that needs to be fixed rather than finding ways to break down barriers and looking to make society more accessible. This could present itself in Para athletics with misconceptions around what an athlete can or cannot do because of their disability and wanting to fit them into a mould that currently exists.
2. The social model of disability challenges the medical model and shifts our lens on the disability of individuals being maintained by systemic barriers, exclusion, and discrimination toward disabilities more than the actual limitations of the impairment. For example, becoming a wheelchair racer and succeeding in the sport of Para athletics would be limited to someone not because this person uses a wheelchair, but a barrier in place such as the track or facility only being accessed by stairs. The social model of disability looks at addressing this barrier by installing a ramp or elevator versus trying to fix the fact that this person can’t walk to access the building in another way.
3. The social relational model of disability is the most contemporary understanding of disability. This model aims to find a middle ground (i.e., relational) between impairment effects and how social structures can limit the impact of full inclusion. In moving too far towards a social model, an individual’s view of disability can disregard the ‘lived experiences’ of people with a disability. The lived experience of disability is critical to acknowledge and understand. It’s also not always possible to remove a barrier in a social environment. However, a conversation with the individual, coming from a place of trust, will help educate on what barriers can be removed and what can be done to improve their training and competition experience. In moving too far towards a medical model, too much emphasis is put on how the disability impacts an individual or what they can’t accomplish in training or competition because of the condition. Finding the balance between the two is important in order to best support an athlete along their pathway. Removing barriers for an athlete while considering how their disability might impact their training occurs through open conversation and co-planning.