Abstract
The Paralympic Movement explicitly sets out to create a more equitable society and promote participation for all and fairness in disability sport. This is primarily achieved through the use of a range of interventions with less attention given to how economic factors may hinder access and achievement in Paralympic sport. We investigated how country-level economic variables influence the level of participation and achievement in the 2015 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Championships held in Doha. We used multiple regression analysis to show how levels of participation and achievement in the Championships were significantly determined by economic factors independent of population size.Our data show that in spite of the ideals of inclusion and fairness within the Paralympic Movement and the considerable effort expended on the use of technologies to achieve this, economic factors continue to exert a statistically significant influence on both the level of participation and achievement of Paralympic athletes. LMICs participate at lower levels and achieve fewer medals when compared to HICs. These differences are particularly marked in events that have a high cost of participation. Our findings raise questions regarding the use of current technologies and the level to which they are able to truly disrupt the politics of global inequality in sport.
Highlights
In aiming for global fairness and inclusivity for all people of the world, and a “better world” for all people with disabilities, the Paralympic movement aligns itself with global international initiatives regarding fairness and inclusivity, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [1] and the World Health Organization/World Bank World Disability Report [2]
Population size was entered into each regression model as the first step, with economic classification (HIC versus Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs)) and GDP entered into the model as the second step to determine: (1) if a significant amount of additional variance in the level of participation can be explained by economic classification or GDP over and above the variance explained by population size; and (2) if economic classification or GDP significantly predicts the level of participation when population size is held constant
Population size was entered into each regression model as the first step, with economic classification (HIC versus LMIC) and GDP entered into the model as the second step to determine: (1) if a significant amount of additional variance in the level of achievement can be explained by economic classification or GDP over and above the variance explained by population size; and (2) if economic classification or GDP significantly predicts the level of achievement when population size is held constant
Summary
In aiming for global fairness and inclusivity for all people of the world, and a “better world” for all people with disabilities, the Paralympic movement aligns itself with global international initiatives regarding fairness and inclusivity, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [1] and the World Health Organization/World Bank World Disability Report [2]. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) explicitly states that its aim is to “make for a more inclusive society” 5) [3] and “to increase inclusion by breaking down social barriers and discrimination towards people with an impairment” The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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