Broadening Perspectives in Adapted Physical Activity Research

While gradually becoming multidisciplinary, research in physical activity is still dominated by post-positivism that has the tendency to position the researcher as expert and the participant as subordinate thereby perpetuating an unequal balance of power. Despite the universal appeal of physical activity, historic practices have excluded particular groups of people who have assumed lesser forms of human capital. Adapted physical activity (APA) is a field that has responded to some of those segregations with application and relevance to people with impairments. Nevertheless, research in APA is still dominated by post-positivism. There is growing criticism within the field related to the abundance of research ‘on’ and lack of research ‘with’ and ‘by’ people with impairments. Furthermore, research questions in the field are most often pursued from a single axis of analysis and constructed by researchers without impairments. While calls for interdisciplinary approaches to understanding disability are growing, there is also a need to engage intersectionality-informed research methodologies to understanding physical activity and power (im)balances therein. Researchers must recognize and theorize their own and their participants’ complicated intersectional manifestations to demonstrate the structural constraints that exist within the field. This presentation will offer an approach that acknowledges and prioritizes the perspectives and experiences of people with impairments to expand the field of APA. As such, the importance of broadening epistemologies in APA and prioritizing an appreciation for multiple knowledges of people with impairments through intersections of social locations will be considered.