Personas con discapacidad física y práctica físico-deportivareconstrucción de una relación compleja a través de relatos de vida

Resumen

Abstract This research is aimed to get to know how people with disabilities build their own meanings and perceptions around physical sporting activities and the significance it has for their lives, and as a factor through which it is possible to understand the situation in the present better and the necessities for change for a greater social inclusion. This is a piece of research in which we examine several case histories with a biographical approach; eight personal cases of people with disabilities, in which eight people with disabilities acquired at birth or through trauma participate, and a professional specialized in working with people with disabilities. These constitute a multiple case study. The confluence of personal case studies with a biographical approach gives our research a marked descriptive-interpretive character with information of a qualitative nature obtained through semi-structured interviews that have allowed us to construct life stories in which we can find the real life experiences of the protagonists. This information is structured around four dimensions related with each one of the four objectives of the investigation. The results allow us to observe that in the life stories recounted, different meanings of disability are built with a language closer to the medical model rather than a social model. Within these personal accounts and depending on the physical activity undertaken, a diversity of meanings and benefits which include different functions are attributed, from the functional and compensatory to the cathartic and emotional associated to physical and psychic wellbeing. Likewise, the results show that the participants in this study point out diverse barriers and facilitators not only for the practice of physical activity but for their own lives, which are framed in different areas in these last two spheres, both the family and the social group may represent either a barrier or a facilitator, not taking into account their attitude towards disability and physical activity.