Disability sport and activism in South Korea

Disability sports can be a powerful platform for activism because disabled elite athletes have the platform to potentially to highlight injustice both within and outside sports. This was recently stressed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) through their 2019-2022 strategic policy plan to promote disability activism through disability sports contexts. However, there are no studies that directly examine who―from the disabled non-athlete and elite athlete communities―actually engages in activism the most. In addition, most studies have paid exclusive attention to disabled elite athlete activism as the sole example of disability activism in the disability sports context in Western counties. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore disabled sports and activism in South Korea. A sequential mixed-method design was used to meet the aim. First, activism orientation was measured amongst elite disabled athletes (n =100) and the results compared with results from recreational athletes (n = 100) and non-athletes (n = 200). The quantitative analysis revealed that elite athletes were more willing to engage in activism than recreational athletes and non-athletes. Second, 18 elite athletes, 15 recreational athletes, 12 non-athletes and four NPC members were interviewed to explore the types of activism that can enable social missions to be achieved, and the reasons why (motivators) they engaged in activism and why they were reluctant to do so (barriers). The narrative analysis revealed a diverse range of activisms (e.g., sports-based, political, social, economic, scholarly, online). Thematic analysis showed that compared to non-athletes and recreational athletes, elite athletes are better positioned to speak out for social change. These findings enrich the understanding of disability sports activism through the lens of cultural sport psychology and sociology. Finally, the thesis concludes with methodological, theoretical and practical implications of the research, by emphasising how disabled sports can be supported in their social missions

Para athlete activism: A qualitative examination of disability activism through Paralympic sport in Ireland

Objectives: Little attention has been given to how Para athletes use their platforms for disability activism. This paper fills this gap by examining how Irish Para athletes take actions to create social change around disability. Methods: A qualitative methodology was adopted. 28 elite-level Irish Para athletes were recruited and participated in interviews. The data set was analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes: ‘Para athlete activisms’ captures different ways of doing disability activism; ‘tensions between different activist identities’ concerns (hyper)critical discourses about various activist identities; ‘ableist influences on Para sport culture’ captures contexts that enable or prevent performing disability activism. Conclusions: The central theoretical contribution is an interpretation of Para athlete activism in terms of a contextually informed continuum of behaviour change. This article is an evidence base for Para sport cultures that wish to connect with disability activism. Practical opportunities are discussed around the psychology of adversity, social legacy value, identity politics and challenging ableism

Exploring activism type in social justice and disability sport: current status and future prospects of the disability social movement

The disability movement developed from an initial stage with emphasis on empowering discriminated people towards a stage with emphasis on enabling human rights. Accordingly, throughout history disabled people have participated in various forms of activism, including sports. Since the establishment of the Paralympic games, disability sport has become a potentially useful platform to raise public awareness on the disability right movement. That is because elite disabled athletes are given much attention in various public spaces (e.g., the media) in comparison to other disabled people. The current study aimed to expand the literature on disabled athlete activism by categorizing the forms of activism that disabled people engage in and identifying commonalities and differences across three sports status levels (elite athletes, retired athletes and non-athletes). Participants were 11 disabled elite athletes, 4 retired athletes, and 6 non-athletes in South Korea. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using narrative analysis with regards to: style and type of activism; consequences of activism; comparison of activism among the three different sports status levels. The results were categorized into ‘Social activism’ (e.g., motivational speech), ‘Scholar activism’ (e.g., research), ‘Political activism’ (e.g., candlelight protest), ‘Sport-based activism’ (e.g., athletes), and ‘Online activism’ (e.g., blog). Compared to non-athlete activism, which focused mainly on political activism, athlete activism focused mainly on social, scholar, and sport-based activism. These findings provide key knowledge of the current status of the sport disability activism movement and, furthermore, provide possible directions of its near-future development

Disabled athlete activism: motivators and barriers to participation in activism among athletes with disabilities in South Korea

Sport and exercise psychology has recently expanded into how it can be utilized to enable social missions, such as investigating athletes who engage social activism. Predominantly, researchers have investigated social activism among elite able-bodied athletes. Recently a small number of scholar have extended the research on athlete activism to a focus upon western disabled elite athletes. However, not only is research still rare on the latter topic, but there is a complete absence of empirical research on social activism among disabled athletes in non-western cultures. This research adopted a cultural sport psychology (CSP) approach to explore disabled athlete activism among South Korean athletes. A CSP lens was used because the Asian philosophy of Confucianism has a strong influence over how South Korean’s engage in social and political issues compare with previous studies based on Western culture. The purpose of this study was to provide insights from athletes who represent a broad continuum of orientations towards engaging in social activism. Thirty respondents of the Activism Orientation Scale were recruited using a maximum variation purposive sampling strategy. Participants were elite and recreational disabled athletes who represented a range of physical impairments and sports type. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with an auto photography method. The data was analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results are discussed in relation to: the type of activism; adoption/rejection of various activist identities; contextually informed activist identities; and cultural sport psychology. Practical suggestions are also offered in relation to sport and social activism

Disabled athlete activism in South Korea: a mixed-method study

Background. Elite disabled athletes have the opportunity to increase awareness on social rights of disable people but, there is no data in non-Western culture on how elite disable athletes can be supported in their social mission. Aims. ① Describe difference between disabled elite athletes and non-athletes for activism orientation in South Korea ② Understand the reasons why/why not disabled elite athletes engage in activism, in comparison to disabled non-athletes in South Kore

Sport and social justice: international perspectives and new horizons in athlete activism research.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of scholarly interest into athlete activism. So far, predominantly, academics have employed a historical perspective to study how elite-level western non-disabled athletes engage in social activism. For example, studies investigating how elite athletes use their profiles to challenge social inequalities. The aim of this symposium is to bring international scholars together to discuss global trends in athlete activism research. Three studies will be presented to demonstrate the widening empirical, methodological, and conceptual scope of athlete activism research. Inhyang Choi will present an qualitative investigation of Koran disabled athlete’s experiences of social and political engagement. Inhyang’s study is underpinned by a cultural sport psychology paradigm with attention to the influence of the Asian philosophy of Confucianism on athlete activism. Then, underpinned by a critical disability studies paradigm, Damian Haslett will present an exploration of recreational and elite Irish Para athletes’ experiences of activism. Finally, Ted Butryn will present an investigation on American high school athletes’ perceptions of Colin Kaepernick and athlete activism within and beyond the NFL. It is our hope that this symposium provides an opportunity to discover new methods of analysis and to encourage inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural research on sport and social justice

Comorbidities and correlates of conduct disorder among male juvenile detainees in South Korea

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to examine the rate and distribution of comorbidities, severity of childhood maltreatment, and clinical characteristics of adolescents with conduct disorder detained in a juvenile detention center in South Korea. Methods In total, 173 juvenile detainees were recruited. We analyzed the distribution of psychiatric disorders among the sample and compared the rate of comorbidities between groups with and without conduct disorder. We compared the two groups in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as severity of childhood maltreatment and psychiatric problems, using the Young Self Report (YSR) scale. Results A total of 95 (55%) of the detainees were diagnosed with conduct disorder, and 93 (96.9%) of them had at least one comorbid axis I psychiatric disorder. Detainees with conduct disorder had a higher number of comorbid psychiatric disorders; a higher rate of violent crime perpetration; had suffered more physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; and showed higher total YSR scores and externalizing behavior, somatic complaints, rule-breaking behavior, and aggressive behavior YSR subscale scores. Conclusions Conduct disorder is a common psychiatric disorder among juvenile detainees in South Korea, who tend to commit more violent crimes and show more psychopathology than detainees who do not have conduct disorder. These findings highlight the importance of diagnosing and intervening in conduct disorder within the juvenile detention system.This study was supported by a grant of the Korean Mental Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HM15C1040)

The Influence of Confucianism on Para-Sport Activism

Academics and sport organizations have recently recognized Para-sport as a powerful platform for disability activism. However, little attention has been given to Para-sport activism in non-Western cultures. This study explored the influence of Confucianism on South Korean Para-sport activism. Data were collected through interviews conducted with four stakeholders from the Korea Paralympic Committee and 18 Para-athletes. Through a reflexive thematic analysis, the authors crafted five themes corresponding to Confucian values: position hierarchy, age hierarchy, parent–child relationship, factionalism, and collectivism. All values had the capacity to encourage and discourage participants toward engaging in activism. These findings contribute to the field of Cultural Sport Psychology by highlighting a multitude of cultural factors affecting Para-sport activism. Practical suggestions to promote Para-sport activism are offered, including sociocultural and organizational legacy