2017 24, 213-220 Pol. J. Sport Tourism , DOI: 10.1515/pjst-2017-0020 Review paper 213 SPORT, DISABILITY, AND WOMEN: A STUDY OF ORGANISED SWEDISH DISABILITY SPORT IN 1969-2012 PIA LUNDQUIST WANNEBERG Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Department of Sport and Health Sciences Mailing address: Pia Lundquist Wanneberg, Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Box 5626, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden, tel.: +46 8 12053709, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Introduction. The purpose of this article is first to provide a picture of disability sport in general and second to increase knowl- edge of sport for women with disabilities. Material and methods. The study method is a qualitative text analysis of organised Swedish disability sport and of media reporting of the Paralympics. The study begins in 1969, the year when the Swedish Sports Organization for the Disabled (SHIF) was formed, and continues until the Summer Paralympics in 2012. The theory is based on three conceptual pairs: integration and inclusion, the medical and social models, and the traditional and progressive models of media coverage. Results. The results show that SHIF strove principally not for inclusion but for integration. Further, women in SHIF led a hidden existence, except for the period between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, when initiatives were taken to improve their position. In other respects, this was a non-issue. Moreover, the medical model was dominant, and sport was viewed above all as rehabilitating. Finally, mainstream media reporting was traditional, namely Paralympic partici- pants were portrayed first and foremost as people with disabilities and secondarily as sports practitioners.Conclusion. Swedish disability sport during this period was not included in the sports movement in general and integration work was, for the SHIF board, superordinate to the gender aspect. Key words: disability sport, women, integration, inclusion, medical and social model, media Introduction Background Disability sport has grown concurrently with the generally Our knowledge of disability sport in general is rather lim- increasing acceptance and integration of people with disabili- ited compared with other sports, and even more so regarding ties in our society. Historically, disability sport can be traced all sportswomen with disabilities. One reason for this is that organ- the way back to antiquity, when in the fifth-century BC, the fa- ised disability sport is a relatively new phenomenon. In Sweden, ther of medicine, Hippocrates, used, for instance, horse-riding the Swedish Sports Organization for the Disabled (SHIF), or the as a treatment method to strengthen patients’ muscles, improve Swedish Parasport Federation, as it is called today, was estab- their condition, and stimulate their minds. In modern times, lished 1962. Another reason is that historically, women’s sport German sportsmen with impaired hearing formed an organisa- has not been researched to the same extent as men’s. The aim tion in Berlin in 1888, and the first international competitions of this article is twofold: firstly, to provide a picture of Swedish for people with impaired hearing were held in France in 1924. disability sport in general, the way it was organised, and the is- Furthermore, organised rehabilitative sport for people with dis- sues that were pursued. Sweden is an interesting study object abilities was more or less necessitated by World Wars I and II because the country was internationally fairly quick out of the as well as the polio epidemics. Sport became a common form blocks regarding disability sport and Paralympic participation. in the international exchanges between disabled soldiers, which For instance, Sweden was one of the twenty-two countries that constitutes the basis of today’s disability sport [3, 4]. participated in the first Paralympics in 1960, and in 1976, it Of special importance in this context was Stoke Mandeville hosted the first Winter Paralympics. Moreover, SHIF, in terms Hospital, which was inaugurated in 1944 in Aylesbury, England. of temporal and discipline development, corresponds to how At this specialist spinal injuries hospital, competitive sport came research has described Western progress [1, 2]. to play an important role because it was a key part of the reha- The second aim is to increase the knowledge of sport for bilitation, especially the medical rehabilitation. However, there women with disabilities by examining women’s place in organ- was also a socio-psychological idea behind it: sport could make ised disability sport and by analysing media reporting of both hospital life slightly easier to endure. In 1948, the first Stoke male and female Paralympic participation. The research period Mandeville Games were held, and fourteen British war veterans, starts in 1969, when SHIF was founded (in 2015, it changed its of whom two were women, competed against each other in ar- name to the Swedish Parasport Federation), and ends with the chery. In the 1950s, the number of disciplines grew to include, 2012 Paralympics. for example, netball, throwing the javelin, and snooker [2]. Copyright © 2017 by the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Biała Podlaska 2017 24, 213-220 Pol. J. Sport Tourism , Lundquist Wanneberg: SPORT, DISABILITY, AND WOMEN ... 214 Although the annual competitions at Stoke Mandeville were male wheelchair user, women are limited in two respects: they only open to people with spinal injuries, they nonetheless came are women, and they have disabilities. Further, women with dis- to form the basis of the Paralympics, an alternative to the Olym- abilities are not objectified and sexualised like their able-bodied pic Games for people with disabilities. In 1990, after many years counterparts, but instead are described as non-sexual, child- of fragmentation, disability sport formed an international body, like, or dependent [1, 8]. One explanation for this is that dis- the International Paralympic Committee, which has organised abilities do not correspond to Western culture’s notions of the the Paralympics since 1994. The first Summer Paralympics were, ideal body, which has consequences in a society where appear- however, held in 1960 in Rome. As already mentioned, these ance traditionally had, and still has, great importance in how we games were followed by the Winter Paralympics in Sweden in are regarded. This is especially discernible for women [9]. The 1976. Besides the Paralympics, there is a number of major in- farther away from the ideal body a person is, the more differ- ternational competitions, such as international wheelchair bas- ent they are considered to be. Women with physical disabilities ketball tournaments, the World Goalball Championships, the are, oddly enough, both hypervisible and invisible: hypervisible Disabled Alpine Skiing World Cup, and the European athletics due to their disability, yet invisible as a gender [9, 10]. However, and swimming championships [4]. media reporting of sportswomen with disabilities contains a dif- The Swedish Parasport Federation, or SHIF, is one of sev- ferent stereotype than the one for able-bodied sportswomen, enty specialised sports federations within the Swedish Sports namely that of the heroically fighting sportswoman [11]. Confederation (RF). Today, it oversees eighteen sports, includ- ing alpine skiing, boccia, football, track and field athletics, Theoretical concept cross-country skiing, goalball, and swimming. Besides these, Theoretically and analytically, the study is based on three basketball, riding, and sailing, for example, each have a special- conceptual pairs: integration and inclusion, the medical and ised sports federation. As for Swedish sports, it is important to social models, and the traditional and progressive models of note that the cornerstones of the Swedish (and Nordic) sports media coverage. model have historically been idealism and autonomy. Unlike the American approach, for instance, where market forces, schools, Integration and inclusion and universities are key actors, sport in Scandinavia is founded Historically, people with disabilities have often been dis- on a popular movement. It is based on voluntary organisations criminated against and excluded from most of society. Segrega- whose unpaid members are empowered to vote. The Swed- tion and institutionalisation have sometimes aimed to protect ish state has funded much sport without wanting to govern or this group from the rest of society and sometimes vice versa. standardise it to any great extent. This has helped sport have During the second half of the 1900s, the Western world’s view of considerable autonomy, for example in organisational matters physically and mentally disabled people changed. Having been [5]. dependent for a long time on the good will of others, they have The formation of SHIF in 1969 did not, however, mean now become part of welfare policy [12]. This changed attitude there was no organised disability sport in Sweden prior to this. is evident in the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons For example, the Swedish Deaf Sports Federation was founded with Disabilities. From having been considered an object for in 1912. In the 1950s, this federation comprised 560 active mem- charity, medical treatment, and social protection, they are here bers, of whom 160 were women, in 16 associations. The visually depicted as subjects capable of shaping their own lives on their impaired too founded a sports association early, in 1934. It is own terms, as active citizens [13]. emphasised in the minutes of SHIF’s inaugural national meet- Regarding the place and role of people with disabilities in ing which took place in 1969 that the time was considered ripe society, an integration concept was developed in the Western for coordinating the practice of disabled sport, among other world at the end of the 1960s. This concept must be considered things, in order to make it stronger and more robust. The heter- in light of the institutionalisation of deviant groups, which had ogeneous composition, however, was highlighted as a difficulty.