“I wanted to be started from a young age”: paralympic sport in the life story of an intellectual disability

• Autor(a) principal: Basei, Andréia Paula
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Carminato, Ricardo Alexandre, Pereira, Jhenifer da Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa (Auto)biográfica
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.uneb.br/index.php/rbpab/article/view/16786
• topic: Intellectual disability; Paralympic sport; Life's history; Discapacidad intelectual; Deporte paralímpico; Historia de vida; Deficiência intelectual; Esporte paralímpico; História de vida

This research aimed to analyze the influences of paralympic sport on the development and life trajectory of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) from the life story of a DI athlete of the athletics modality residing in a small town in the north-central mesoregion of Paraná. It was evidenced that, although the life history of the DI athlete is marked by numerous difficulties related, mainly, with the financial aspects and lack of incentive to practice sports until adolescence, the sport had/has an extremely important role as means of social inclusion and improved quality of life, not only in terms of health, but also psychological, social and economic aspects. It is concluded that it is extremely important to provide access to sports for people with disabilities, considering the benefits in the following aspects: physical/motor, intellectual, social, affective and cultural in the development as an athlete and as a citizen. One of the means is to carry out university extension, which has the potential to put into practice the social responsibility of the public university and contribute to an effective transformation of reality.