The Game of ‘Their’ Lives

Eli Wolff, Northeastern University, Ted Fay, SUNY, Cortland and Mary Hums, University of Louisville

Inclusion, Integration and Human Rights: From the Athlete Perspective

This presentation will describe research conducted on the views and opinions of a cross-section of “Paralympic” athletes concerning their perspectives on their status within the Olympic Movement, the Olympic Games, and related international sport federations and their respective competitions and championships. This presentation will examine the significant mainstream symbols and institutions of international sport in terms of their relevance in providing credibility and legitimacy to athletes with disabilities as elite athletes. The results of this exploratory study will also outline using a critical theory perspective of the relationship between the athlete perspectives on integration and inclusion into elite sport and their corresponding views concerning overall human rights. Further, this paper will present a framework for assessing the value and apparent respect or disrespect given to disability-specific sport opportunities being added as divisions or parts of existing mainstream sport governance, sporting events, programs and/or organizations. An assessment will also be presented as a means to discuss sport in this context as a means of transformation or the reinforcement of existing hegemony within sport governance models and organizations. Comparative linking of other related histories of marginalized identity groups (e.g., race and gender) in sport and societies will serve as the basis for discussion followed by recommendations for future research needs in this nascent area of sport sociology as it more openly addresses issues of ableism in sport.

Eli Wolff, Northeastern University, Howard L. Nixon II, Towson University and Ian Brittain, University of Warwick

Incorporating Perspectives on Athletes with a Disability into the Sport Sociology Curriculum
This presentation proposes important perspectives, issues and research about athletes with a disability in sport that could be included in introduction to sport sociology courses to enrich them and expand their usual focus. The significance and historical context of athletes with a disability in sport introduces this presentation. Athletes with a disability are discussed in relation to major sociological topics, such as stratification and the sports opportunity structure, discrimination, integration, segregation, power, social identity and socialization, gender, race, minority relations, cultural diversity, the role of the media and the organizational hierarchy of sport, which suggest places to fit the discussion of athletes with a disability into the sport sociology curriculum. Terms and ideas specifically related to disability sport and the involvement of athletes with a disability in sport are also presented. Key issues and debates about the involvement of persons with a disability in disability and mainstream sport are proposed as additional ways of integrating topics about disability and sport into the curriculum.
Andrew Yiannakis, University of Connecticut

Quo Vadis Sport Sociology? Is There a Future for You in the Horizon?

The presentation provides a brief outline of the development of the society from its inception in 1978 to the first conference in Denver in 1980. It also identifies and discusses the issues and problems that confronted (and some still continue to do so today) the organization over the years, from the early days to the present. The discussion also alludes to significant contributions by key sport sociologists, their impact on the growth and development of the society and their influence in shaping the future of both the field and the organization. The paper c