Learning Disability and Sport: A History

This thesis is the first comprehensive history of the relationship between sport and people with learning disabilities in Great Britain. Through interviews with athletes and organisers, and the use of personal documents, the thesis examines the historical changes and continuities of this relationship, with particular focus on the years between 1959 and 2012. It charts how and why sport for people with learning disability went from being a generally invisible activity, held only within special schools, residential institutions and hospitals, to being a community based activity supported by mainstream governing bodies, and high profile dedicated organisations like the Special Olympics. In this change from invisibility to prominence, disability sport mirrored the changes experienced by people with learning disabilities who went from being social pariahs, often forcibly living isolated from society in institutions, to being increasingly present and visible, although not always valued and integrated members of the community, a process described as normalisation. This thesis argues that sport was an important and previously under acknowledged part of this process. The thesis highlights how mixed the provision for sport was, as it included organised clubs, the regular activity at schools, adult training centres (ATCs) and mixed activity clubs such as Mencap Gateway. Through physical advocacy, a concept similar to social role valorisation, sporting activity provided examples of vigorous and athletic people achieving significant feats of athletic excellence, which helped change previously negative or belittling ideas around the fragility and helplessness of people with learning disability. The thesis is chronologically based and divided into 6 main chapters. It begins by providing context prior to the year 1959, when the first sports club for people with learning disabilities was formed, and ends circa 2012, which coincided with the re-introduction of learning disability athletes at the Paralympics.