Growth and adversity in disability sport following spinal cord injury

Within this chapter a structural narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008) is provided to help explore the multiple storylines that four disabled athletes (M+3; F=1) with acquired spinal cord injury (SCI) drew upon in experiencing posttraumatic growth (PTG). Frank’s (1995) ideal narrative types in response to illness (chaos, restitution, and quest) were central in revealing the complex dynamics through which individuals constructed body-selves as disabled athletes. Through analyzing experiences of: i) trauma and disablement; ii) rehabilitation; iii) commencing disability sport; iv) constructing disabled athletic identity; and v) embodying the ‘supercrip’ the dominant emplotments available in disability sport are illuminated as enabling and/or constraining in experiencing PTG. Although the repertoire of dominant narratives in disability sport risk reproducing narrowly defined reconstructions of self and experiences of PTG, over time, empathy, altruism and activism and more fulfilling experiences of PTG may be demonstrated. Future directions for exploring experiences of PTG amongst disabled athletes are discussed.