ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1, I raised the controversy of the so-called supercrip athlete that is prevalent in the disability-studies literature and the disability community. Although some may view such athletes as positive role models, as empowering figures for people with disabilities, others view them as disempowering, because they set the bar too high for people with disabilities, create unrealistic expectations about what people can achieve, and create a false impression that the types of reforms advocated by proponents of the social model of disability are unnecessary. As a result of my research with competitive wheelchair athletes, however, I have come to the conclusion that this critique is misconstrued. It’s not that I didn’t discover some disempowering elements of the supercrip phenomenon. It’s that a cavalier dismissal of these athletes fails to appreciate that they did not “make it” on their own. While they most certainly deserve credit for their hard work, perseverance, and accomplishments in the face of adversity, their lives must be understood in social context-the actions they took were enabled by significant others and institutional resources that were available to them during their lives (Berger 2005, 2008a; Juette and Berger 2008).
