'It's not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible': The social construction of disability in high-performance coaching. (May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Townsend, Robert C; Huntley, Tabo; Cushion, Christopher J; Fitzgerald, Hayley
• Is Part Of: International review for the sociology of sport. Volume 55:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 344
• Page End: 360
• Publication Date: 2020-05
• Subjects: coaching -- disability -- high-performance sport -- paralympic athletes -- symbolic capital; Sports -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.48305
• DOI: 10.1177/1012690218797526
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1012-6902

Abstract

This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases 'disability' was assimilated into the 'performance logic' of the sporting field as a means of maximising symbolic capital. Furthermore, coaches were socialised into a prevailing legitimate culture in elite disability sport that was reflective of ableist, performance-focused and normative ideologies about disability. In this article we unpack the assumptions that underpin coaching in disability sport, and by extension use sport as a lens to problematise the construction of disability in specific social formations across coaching cultures. In so doing, we raise critical questions about the interrelation of disability and sport.