Too Many Chairs: Spatiality and Disability in Integrated Sporting Spaces

Abstract

The research examined spatiality of The Village during the Commonwealth Games XXI. Central to the research is the perspective of the parasport athlete. By foregrounding this perspective, new understandings of the geography of sporting spaces become possible. The integrated nature of the Games establishes The Village as a significant space to consider spatiality and disability. Ethnographic methodology was utilized. The first author, a veteran of many Paralympic Games, brought an “insider” perspective. Thematic analysis was conducted, and three themes, such as language informs space, hypervisibility of the body, and indoor versus outdoor spaces are presented as an ethnographic vignette. Inaccessible construction and hypervisibility of the body in certain spaces impacted athlete experience. The Village Pub and pools were examples of inhospitable spaces for athletes. The language of Games personnel significantly affected athlete participation in Village life.