Sitting and Watching the Others Being Active: The Experienced Difficulties in PE When Having a Disability

Abstract

The experience of participation in physical activity was explored in a qualitative study with twenty Norwegian adults with physical and visual disabilities. The interviews showed that more than 75% of negative experiences reported in this study originated from physical education (PE), suggesting that this was a particularly challenging arena. The negative experiences were centered in these common themes: experiences of not being included, experiences of failing, and experiences of not being listened to. The interviews were analyzed applying an existential-phenomenological approach. The participants with relatively minor degrees of disability and with the least visible disabilities were the ones who most often reported negative experiences regarding PE. This suggests the experiences were not generated solely by the actual physical or sensory limitations, but equally by how well the participants’ challenges were understood by their teachers and to what degree adaptations were implemented.