This is exacerbated by a lack of understanding by journalists and the public about the complex classification system.

Much of the liter-ature has found journalist framed Paralympian stories as negative, passive, medicalised, disability oriented, individualised or focuses on the Para-lympics as minority sports, despite them being organised in tandem with a the Olympic mega-event. The problem many scholars have found is with how language used by journalist to represent Paralympians is often couched in either medical terms or a‘disabled-hero’ (Hardin & Hardin, 2008) dis-course with a focus on disability over elite athleticism. Headlines such as ‘Public is often blind to some athletes’ (The Globe and Mail, Canada, 1993) ‘Ready, Willing and Disabled’ (Washington Post, 1995) or ‘Landmines claim limbs but athletes stand united’ (Sydney Morn-ing herald, Australia, 2000) are just a sample of previous story headlines about Paralympic athletes. Introduction Newspaper headlines about Paralympic athletes have previously depicted the Paralympic Games with an emphasis on disability over athleticism.

This analysis brings to the forefront how discourses of empowerment reproduce, justify and conceal the increasingly rationalized structures that enable Paralympic experts to act upon the actions, bodies and identities of those experiencing disabilities. In Chapters 3 through 5, I use genealogy to critique Paralympic power relations: analyzing their systems of differentiation, types of objectives, instrumental modes, forms of institutionalization and degrees of rationalization. In Chapter 2, I analyze two historical accounts of the Paralympic Movement to demonstrate how they discursively represent, reproduce and justify Paralympic power relations. In Chapter 1, I contextualize my study by discussing relevant literature in Critical Disability Studies, Sociology of Sport and Adapted Physical Activity, and by introducing my methodological and epistemological frameworks. In this thesis, I use Foucault’s methods of discourse analysis and genealogy, and my own experiences as a Paralympic athlete, to analyze and critique the power relations of the Paralympic Movement.

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