title: "A More Equitable Society": The Politics of Global Fairness in Paralympic Sport.
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.
authors.affiliation: Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1741-5897
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Swartz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bantjes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Divan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rall
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cheri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blauwet
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sport and Exercise Medicine, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Research Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Derman
mesh_terms: D056352:Athletes; D054874:Athletic Performance; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011057:Politics; D012952:Societies; D013177:Sports