ABSTRACT
Internationally, issues relating to equity and inclusion continue to be embedded within legislation and policy and promoted in various arenas including education, welfare and employment. For example, in the United Kingdom, the advent of Every Child Matters (DfES 2004a) and the latest additions to the Disability Discrimination Act (2005) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001) advocate inclusive and equitable practice (see Chapter 3 for a more detailed account of these developments). Within sport, issues concerning equity and inclusion are now prominent in many organizations’ agendas (Sport England 2000; The Football Association 2002 and 2003), and the British government’s national strategy, Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL)1 also emphasizes this aspect of work. Discussions focusing on equity usually target a number of groups including females, minority ethnic communities, disabled people, older people and those with low socio-economic status, all of whom have low levels of participation in sport (Sport England 2001a; Women’s Sport and Fitness Association 2007). Much research has focused on equity and inclusion in relation to ‘single issues’ such as disabled people’s involvement in sport (Fitzgerald 2005; Goodwin and Watkinson 2000; Sport England 2001b). Similarly, other research has focused on specific issues concerned with gender and sport (Jinxia and Mangan 2002; Hall 2003; Williams 2003). Like poststructuralist feminists (Azzarito and Solomon 2005; Oliver et al. 2007), I recognize the importance of moving beyond single issue research that gives primacy to one social category, instead of focusing on the intersections. By intersections I refer to the interconnections and interdependence of one social marker, such as gender, with other categories including race, class and disability (Anthias and Yuval-Davis 1982). In this chapter, I focus on the intersection of gender and disability, within a football2 specific intervention. In particular, I report on the outcomes of a small-scale research project that aimed to explore (a) the nature of football experiences encountered by the girls experiencing learning disabilities; (b) the extent to which the
case study schools were supportive of the football interests of girls experiencing learning disabilities; and (c) the extent to which governing bodies of sport and other sport organizations facilitated opportunities for girls experiencing learning disabilities.
