Managing unequal dis/abilities in competition: participation dynamics in a single-category wheelchair team sport

The management of athlete body and ability differences is a constant preoccupation of the social world of sport. The main dispositive in managing this issue has been the introduction of sports categories, often based on the differences between the body’s biological characteristics (sex, age, weight). The social world of parasport features innovative ways of classifying bodies that extend beyond such biomedical measurement. In powerchair hockey, a sport developed by and for people living with neurodegenerative diseases, the case study of this paper, women and men, children and adults, and people with various types and degrees of impairment play in a single category. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnography of this parasport, this study aims to understand how unequal dis/abilities can be managed in single-category competitions. It also elucidates how this management shapes athletes’ participation dynamics. Despite some persistent ableist inequalities, the powerchair hockey classification system makes it possible to adapt one’s way of playing and keep participating as physical impairments worsen and the volume of physical abilities decreases without being (too) devalued within the team.