The self-perception of athletes with disability

Abstract

Psychological studies show that people often see those with disabilities in a stereotyped way. Athletes with disabilities are most often seen as "poor" or "superheroes". Apart from their exposure to prejudice and stereotyped social perception , people with disabilities, more often than people without disabilities, face inefficiency in the field of sport. This can result in sport being a double-edged sword, which can improve or impair one's self-image. The aim of this study was to determine how athletes with disabilities see themselves: what is their real self-perception? It was presumed that there are significant differences in terms of the age or gender of the participants. A self-perception inventory was used as an instrument, composed of thirty attributes of personality estimated on a four degree scale. 19 athletes with disabilities aged between 14 and 60 participated in this study. Eight of the participants were younger than 26 years, and 11 were older; there were14 males and 5 females. The results showed statistically significant differences in self-perception among the participants of different ages or gender. Attributes that dominated among the athletes with disabilities were positive self-perception and a positive self-image (for example, being self-confident, cheerful, relaxed, ambitious, decent). Although the study involved a relatively small number of participants and did not directly consider the correlation between self-perception and sports, the results correspond with the general trend of psychological studies confirming the positive effect of sports activities on the self-concept of people with disabilities.