“I think I became a swimmer rather than just someone with a disability swimming up and down:” paralympic athletes perceptions of self and identity development

Stephen Pack,Sasha Kelly,Monna Arvinen-Barrow

doi:10.1080/09638288.2016.1217074

Stephen Pack, Sasha Kelly + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2016.1217074

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Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of self and identity development.Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was taken. During semi-structured interviews, five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20–24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.Results: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis yielded three superordinate themes: (a) “One of the crowd”; none of the participants viewed themselves as disabled, nor as supercrips; these perceptions stemmed from family-, school-, and swimming-related experiences, (b) “Becoming me”; participation in swimming facilitated self- and social-acceptance, and identity development, and c) “A badge of honor”; swimming presented opportunity to present and reinforce a positive identity.Conclusions: Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social identities, integrate through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition.Implications for rehabilitationOffering equal sporting opportunities for people with/without physical disability can help facilitate social integration and act as a buffer against stigmatization.Our research suggests that participation in sport had afforded the participants a heightened sense of self-concept, independence, ability and corresponding pride.When working with individuals with physical disabilities, rehabilitation professionals could utilize sport as a means of increasing an individual’s feelings of independence, confidence and normalization.As such, part of rehabilitation should be to ensure opportunities for sport participation for people with physical disability are available for people of all ages.

Highlights

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ sense of self and identity
The participants believed that public focus had shifted from disability to proficiency in an activity within which they had not been expected to excel. Their swimming careers have directly supported proposals within progressive models of disability[75], and further eroded medical discourse, by indicating that participation in swimming facilitated overall quality of life by enhancing movement capability, and instilling and maintaining an identity which provided a sense of acceptance, purpose, and pride
As a career choice swimming had facilitated independence, the development of social networks and, for some, the establishment of a career upon retirement from competition

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of self and identity development. During semi-structured interviews five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20-24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Conclusions: Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social identities, integrate through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition. Researchers have generally adopted a dispositional approach to identity, and have explored a range of affective, cognitive, behavioural, and personality correlates of domain-specific self-identity.[8] One particular type of domain-specific identity that has increasing research interest is ‘athletic identity.’[9,10] Athletic identity (i.e., a dispositional perspective to identity)[11] has been considered as the extent to which individuals identify with the role of an athlete. Individuals might make inferences regarding perceptions of their commitment to an activity, their ability to engage in the activity,[13] and a commitment to ideological and occupational options most consistent with their needs, values, skills, and interests.[14]

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