著者

昇 亜美子

出版者

公益財団法人 日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンター

雑誌

日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンターパラリンピック研究会紀要 (ISSN:24326100)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, pp.17-39, 2019 (Released:2019-07-22)

参考文献数

77

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A precursor to the Paralympics was the Stoke Mandeville Games, and it is well known that one of its major objectives was to provide treatment to military personnel and to support their reintegration into civilian society. While the Paralympics subsequently developed as an elite sports competition, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of disabled war veterans taking part. As a form of rehabilitation for military personnel, the Paralympics can be seen as having come full circle. This is particularly noticeable in the case of the US: at the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, veterans made up 24.3% of the entire US team. Behind that development is the increase in the number of disabled veterans resulting from the various wars against terror that America has fought since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. This increase has resulted in an expanding medical and welfare bill that puts pressure on US government finances, and delays in diagnosis and treatment in veterans hospitals have emerged as a major social and political problem. Veterans in the US number more than 20 million, constituting a major political force that can even affect the outcome of presidential elections, and how veterans are treated has become an election issue in recent years. One of the various policies that the U.S. goverment agencies such as U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have adopted to deal with this increase in disabled veterans has been to encourage individuals to take part in adaptive sports. Since the mid 2000s there has been an expansion in programs specifically designed for military individuals, undertaken in close cooperation with the US Olympic Committee. In particular with the passing of the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, various programs were launched to provide grant to organizations that run adaptive sports programs for disabled veterans and to pay monthly training allowance to disabled veterans with Paralympics-level competition skills. What effects will these sorts of proactive government policies have on the Paralympics and adaptive sports in the future? First, we can argue that they will contribute to the growth and development of the Paralympics and adaptive sports as a whole. The US Olympic Committee and other sports organizations will be strengthened on the financial front, the increasing number of disabled veterans taking up adaptive sports will result in more athletes being developed, and there will be more public interest. Second, because there is significantly more support given to disabled veterans engaged in sports in comparison to disabled civilians, there is a possibility that military personnel will have an unfair advantage in opportunities to participate in the Paralympics. Third, if disabled veterans receive preferential treatment and their proportion among Paralympics participants increases, defining the value of disabled sports may be focused on its sports element and increasing competitive skill, rather than welfare-related aspects such as the rehabilitation of disabled people, their psychological stability, the recovery of their self-confidence and dignity, and supporting their reintegration into communities. Lastly, because participation in sports by a nation’s veterans often includes patriotic elements such as the prominent use of the national flag, the Paralympics Games may also become an event with a stronger appeal to nationalism.

著者

中村 真博

出版者

公益財団法人 日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンター

雑誌

日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンターパラリンピック研究会紀要 (ISSN:24326100)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, pp.63-94, 2020 (Released:2020-11-12)

参考文献数

37

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A variety of Para sports-related activities, including events to experience Para sports, have been launched since the selection of Tokyo as the host city for the 2020 Paralympic Games.Previous Japanese research on Para sports-related experiences and their impact includes studies on changes in student awareness through classes at educational institutions, studies on changes in the awareness of those who engaged in specific Para sports, and studies that aim to identify able-bodied people’s subconscious attitudes toward and awareness about people with disabilities. These studies have shown that interaction with people with disabilities and experiences with Para sports have a positive impact on able-bodied people’s awareness about and attitudes toward people with disabilities. However, since the studies have a limited scope, they do not necessarily offer an overall picture of society. Therefore, research that does not limit its scope to a specific Para sport or to awareness and attitudes in psychological terms is required, and it should be conducted based on a consideration of what distinguishes Para sports from a broad perspective. This study aims to examine the relationship between Para sports and inclusion awareness through a nationwide, randomized online survey and to shed light on the impact of experiences with Para sports on inclusion awareness.The study first examines how the relationship between Para sports and inclusion awareness is understood by the government and various organizations that hold events involving Para sports experiences. Then, an online survey was conducted based on the hypothesis that engagement in Para sports has a positive impact on knowledge acquisition, awareness raising, actual behavior, and social image. The online survey showed that awareness about words related to an inclusive society was higher among respondents who had experiences with Para sports than those who did not, and that for most respondents their experiences of Para sports had involved watching Para sports on TV or in person. The survey also showed that respondents who had experiences with Para sports had a more positive image of Para sports and were more inclined to help people with disabilities than those who had no experiences with Para sports, although further verification is required due to a low level of connection among these aspects. On the other hand, the survey indicated that experiences with Para sports were not related to how respondents viewed disability (social model or individual model) or how they viewed today’s society and an ideal society.These findings lend some support to the working hypothesis presented in this study. The selection of Tokyo as the host city for the 2020 Paralympic Games has led to more opportunities to develop experiences with Para sports. Hopefully, these opportunities will continue to be provided even after the Paralympic Games and lead to the development of inclusion awareness among able-bodied people. This study predominantly focuses on analyzing the relationship between experiences with Para sports and inclusion awareness; therefore, future goals include exploring how interaction (or lack thereof) with people with disabilities and experiences other than engagement in Para sports impact inclusion awareness.

著者

小倉 和夫

出版者

公益財団法人 日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンター

雑誌

日本財団パラリンピックサポートセンターパラリンピック研究会紀要 (ISSN:24326100)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.7, pp.1-18, 2017 (Released:2019-08-02)

参考文献数

8

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Impacts of the close linkage of the Paralympic Games with the Olympic Games can be analyzed in terms of the brand values, social recognition, athletes’ achievements and accessibility or social inclusion. All these aspects can be stringent on the identity of the Paralympics as distinct from the Olympics. This in turn leads us to the analysis or assessment of the use of the well-established Olympic brand for promoting Paralympic “values” of the impact of the highly competitive skill of Olympians on to the skill of Paralympians, of the social inclusion of the disabled as the result of the increased social exposure of the Paralympics, of the treatment of the persons of grave impairment, and finally of the social perception for different modalities for overcoming disabilities.