Bundon, A. (2016). Honey or Vinegar? Athletes with Disabilities Discuss Strategies for Advocacy within the Paralympic Movement. The Canadian Disabilities Studies Association-Association des Études sur l’Incapacity Conference, Calgary, Alberta, May 28-30th, 2016.

1. Honey or Vinegar
Andrea Bundon
School of Kinesiology
The University of British Columbia
Athletes with disabilities discuss strategies for
advocacy within the Paralympic Movement

2. OVERVIEW
Project Design Findings Discussion
Questions and Comments
The AthletesFirst Project

3. The
AthletesFirst
Project
Vancouver 2014
GeraldDeo/TheUbyssey

4. The AthletesFirst Project
Project
Design
Participatory Action Research
5 community co-researchers
(all Paralympians)
Created 'AthletesFirst' blog
Took turns writing posts
Encouraged others to discuss and
debate issues

5. The AthletesFirst Project
Project
Design
14 months
34 blog posts
339 comments
9,700 visits
6,500 visitors
97 countries (63% Canada)

6. The AthletesFirst Project
Project
Design
25 semi-structured, qualitative
interviews with blog authors and
readers
Blog posts and comments
Social media
Ongoing process of blogging,
interviewing, analysis

7. The AthletesFirst Project
Findings
Authors and audiences described posts
as a form of advocacy on behalf of
athletes with disabilities
They felt the posts were intended to
educate others in the sport system
They aimed to change ableist practices
in the sport system and challenge
disablism

8. The AthletesFirst Project
Findings
OR
honey
vinegar

9. The AthletesFirst Project
honey
"Why an integrated program? Because
there simply aren't enough adaptive
athletes for an adaptive-only program.
Kudos to [the club] for being willing to
accept me as a member and to the
coaches who have been great..."

10. The AthletesFirst Project
honey
"I've had a couple of people ask about
my vision and I'm happy to answer
questions. However, most of them start
with, 'So how much vision do you have -
75, 80%? When I tell them I have less
than 10%, they often say, 'Wow, you sure
don't look like it.'
They have no idea that while it may look
like I am simply grabbing an oar and
walking out to the boat, every move I
make is a calculated one... I make sure I
am never the first one to the oar racks
to avoid the embarrassing situation of
whacking the surrounding boats like
piñatas."

11. The AthletesFirst Project
honey
"Once we launch, things get a little
easier. Rowing is a very repetitive sport
and when things are going well, there is
a predictable rhythm to follow. But this
is a novice program and all of us are still
working on technique so being
consistent is not our strong suit yet."

12. The AthletesFirst Project
honey
Honey Advocacy
1. Thankful
2. Humourous and self-deprecating
3. 'We'

13. The AthletesFirst Project
vinegar
"I understand the arguments against
offering adaptive categories. I realize
that it takes more volunteers and more
set up time. But really! We are taking
the time to set up these events anyways.
It's discrimination not to offer adaptive
categories. It sends out the message
that adaptive racers are not as
important... Don't we as adaptive people
have enough challenges in trying to keep
fit? Having to remind local race
organizers every single season that we
are here and want to race is getting a
little old."

14. The AthletesFirst Project
vinegar
"I am a below-knee amputee and my
qualifying time for the Boston Marathon
is 8:00:00. Yes EIGHT HOURS!! For those
of you who don't run and aren't sure
what that time means... it means 'if you
are missing a leg we're happy to have
you here.' "

15. The AthletesFirst Project
vinegar
Vinegar Advocacy
1. Use language of discrimination
2. Humourous but sarcastic
3. 'Us' and 'Them'

16. The AthletesFirst Project
Discussion
"For human beings, advocacy is a
default setting. We seek change for the
better; we struggle to protect that
what we have. Advocacy is a plea for
what we want and see needed."
(Stake & Rosu, 2012, p. 45)

17. The AthletesFirst Project
Discussion
"It would be difficult to impossible to
try to be equally 'advocative' all the
time. There are times and places for
full effort, and times and places for
keeping our partisanship unexpressed.
We have multiple advocacies and they
cannot all be shouted simultaneously.
For physical and political reasons, our
advocacies are intermittent."
(Stake & Rosu, 2012, p. 48)

18. Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the athletes, bloggers and
blog readers who contributed to the
AthletesFirst project.
This research was supported by the