‘BETTER A SUPERHERO THAN A VICTIM’: A STUDY ABOUT PERCEPTIONS BY ATHLETES AND FORMER ATHLETES WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT ABOUT MEDIA COVERAGE

Authors

  • Amanda Paola Velasco de Oliveira UFPR
  • Bianca Natália Poffo Doutoranda do Programa de pós-graduação em Educação Física da UFPR
  • Doralice Lange de Souza UFPR

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.84237

Keywords:

Paralympic sport. Vision disorders. Social medias.

Abstract

According to several studies, Paralympic athletes tend to be portrayed by the media as victims of their impairments and/or as superheroes/supercrips. This article analyzes the perception of athletes and former athletes with visual impairment about how they are portrayed by the media. We conducted a qualitative study involving semi-structured and in-depth interviews with five athletes and two former athletes with visual impairment. We found that respondents do not identify themselves as “poor things” and do not approve of relating disability to suffering. We also found that there is no consensus on the superhero/supercrip approach. Our conclusion is that the media should not reproduce one perspective or another because they do not match the reality of people with visual impairment and tend to perpetuate stigmas and prejudices against them.

 

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Author Biographies

Amanda Paola Velasco de Oliveira, UFPR

Licenciada em Educação Física. Mestra em Educação Física pela UFPR.

Bianca Natália Poffo, Doutoranda do Programa de pós-graduação em Educação Física da UFPR

Licenciada em Educação Física pela UFSC. Mestra em Educação Física pela UFSC. Doutoranda do Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Física pela UFPR.

Doralice Lange de Souza, UFPR

Doutora em Educação pela Universidade de Harvard. Professora do curso de Educação Física na UFPR.

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Published

2019-01-06

How to Cite

OLIVEIRA, A. P. V. de; POFFO, B. N.; SOUZA, D. L. de. ‘BETTER A SUPERHERO THAN A VICTIM’: A STUDY ABOUT PERCEPTIONS BY ATHLETES AND FORMER ATHLETES WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT ABOUT MEDIA COVERAGE. Movimento, [S. l.], v. 24, n. 4, p. 1179–1190, 2019. DOI: 10.22456/1982-8918.84237. Disponível em: https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/Movimento/article/view/84237. Acesso em: 25 jun. 2025.

Issue

v. 24, n. 4, out./dez. 2018

Section

Original Articles

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