Sensing inclusion among visually impaired and guide runners

People with visual impairments partake in recreational running with sighted guide runners. In the Netherlands, the Running Blind foundation enables blind and visually impaired runners and their guides to experience the social and physical benefits of outdoor recreation together. While sport policies...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International review for the sociology of sport 2024-02, Vol.59 (1), p.22-37
Main Authors: Hiemstra, Marit, Rana, Jasmijn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blindness
Outdoor recreation
Physical disabilities
Sports
Visual impairment
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Summary:People with visual impairments partake in recreational running with sighted guide runners. In the Netherlands, the Running Blind foundation enables blind and visually impaired runners and their guides to experience the social and physical benefits of outdoor recreation together. While sport policies and programs in the Netherlands call for more inclusive sport practices, it is often unclear what ‘inclusion’ means for the people involved. This article explores how a sense of inclusion is constituted, experienced and reflected on within guided running. Based on three months of immersive, sensory ethnographic fieldwork in guided running, we argue that merely integrating disabled sports practitioners into mainstream, that is, ableist sporting contexts does not increase inclusion for people with different abilities. Instead, guided running ensembles challenge ‘the language of inclusion’ by showing how a sense of inclusion evolves from an empathic engagement with the environment, the people and the tethered running bodies.
ISSN:1012-6902
1461-7218
DOI:10.1177/10126902231172919