Abstract
Sixteen percent of the world’s population are people with physical disabilities. However, teachers in physical education are mostly abled-bodied. This presents a unique problem for teachers to understand the lived bodily experience of a person with a physical disability. Every person has a different body and their experiences and perspectives about the world come through their body. An able-bodied person, though well meaning, cannot know the lived bodily experience of disability. In physical education settings, students with physical disabilities are excluded from physical education experiences because of the teacher’s lack of education and experience (Martin, 2018). People with physical disabilities have different perspectives and experiences and thus need to be included in the physical education profession. As teachers, people with physical disabilities could support the mission of a physically literate society no matter their ability. Charlton (2000) discusses the limitations of society when seeing a person with a physical disability. Unfortunately, as Buber (1970) would say, people with physical disabilities are often seen as objects. The student with a physical disability should be seen as a subject who has something to share with the world instead of an object; this is where a teacher with a physical disability could help immeasurably. Thus, the purpose of this presentation is threefold: 1) to discuss the lived bodily experience of disability in physical education, 2) to examine the power of bringing these different voices and faces to physical education, and 3) to offer strategies to include this population in physical education.
Presenters
Aubrey H. ShawResearch Consultant for the Center for ETHICS, University of Idaho, Idaho, United States Sharon Kay Stoll
Professor, Movement Sciences, University of Idaho, Idaho, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Sporting Cultures and Identities
KEYWORDS
Adapted, Inclusion, Perspective-Taking
