Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Disability sport refers to any form of organized physical competition intended specifically for people with disabilities and contrasts with able-bodied or mainstream sport, which is organized for people without disabilities. The historical lack of mainstream sports opportunities for people with disabilities is one of the important rationales for the development of disability sport. People are considered disabled, e.g., regarding physical mobility, sight, hearing, or mental functioning, when they have biomedical conditions or impairments that limit their ability to use certain skills, carry out certain tasks, or participate in certain activities or roles. Although their overall sports participation rates remain relatively low, people with disabilities have become increasingly involved in the pursuit of sport at various levels over the past few decades. Disability sport has arisen and grown in popularity in recent decades, as people with disabilities have enhanced their rights, status, and perceptions of opportunity in society. Disabled people were relatively invisible in the United States until the 1970s, when federal law mandated the public education of American children and youths with disabilities in appropriate settings. What was known about people with disabilities was typically based on myth and stigma, but increasing public education, advocacy, and research in recent decades ... log in or subscribe to read full text