The Experiences of Disabled People in Physical Education

Bringing together a set of first-person accounts of physical education from the perspectives of disabled children and adults, this book puts disabled people’s voices in the foreground.

The book provides a rich set of case study material that deepens our understanding of the experiences of disabled people and challenges students, researchers, and practitioners to reflect critically upon their own positionality. The first part of the book discusses the ways in which disability has been conceptualized, how the voices of disabled people have sometimes been marginalized, and how nondisability power has historically framed the narratives of disabled people in physical education literature. It also discusses the innovative methods used in this book—such as storytelling through recorded conversations and drawings in addition to more traditional chapter writing—to empower disabled children and adults to act as authors of their own stories. Then the book presents the stories themselves in a variety of written, narrative, and alternative formats, a series of authentic accounts of the lived experiences of disabled people in physical education. Finally, the book concludes with the editors’ final thoughts and reflections about this collection of stories that can be used in the classroom to foster dialogue and encourage critical thinking. Importantly, these prompts have been co-constructed between the editors and the disabled people themselves.

This book is essential reading for any course in adapted physical education, physical education, or disability, for any pre- or in-service teacher, instructor, or coach working with disabled people, and for people who experience disability or their families with an interest in education, physical activity, or methods for elevating the voices of disabled people.