A abordagem mediática sobre o desporto paralímpico: Perspetivas de atletas portugueses

Abstract

The paralympic sport lives an affirmation process as a phenomenon of spectacle, taking the media as a tool for the dissemination of it's ideas and products, as well as pathway for potential social change for persons with disabilities. The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics and trends of the media approach over paralympic movement, based on personal perceptions of nine Portuguese Paralympic athletes, eight men and one woman, with visual or physical disabilities, all with international experience in the following sports: boccia, swimming or athletics. From semi-structured interviews, analysis of results by the method of the Collective Subject Discourse and discussion based on sociological categories of Pierre Bourdieu, in particular the Theory of Fields, has as main results: i) the Paralympic disclosure is further reduced, both in Portugal and in other countries, but is in growth; ii) athletes, mostly prefer to disseminate their sports performance to the detriment of the sensationalist speech about overcoming difficulties arising from the condition of disability; iii) the paralympic sport is devalued in relation to the Olympic. The main conclusions is the discontent of athletes with low media coverage, with supercrip stigma and the supremacy of football (soccer), becoming evident the manifestation of a desire to occupy a space of more prominent sports field, which confer them greater legitimacy and possibility of athletic-competitive development, besides financial and social gains.