ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between disability, sport and English national identity to reveal a narrative of exclusion, discrimination and disenchantment. It argues that disabled sportspeople are largely excluded from mainstream organisations, events and development pathways, they are likely to eschew a strong relationship between their own sports performance and English national identity. The chapter focuses on how experiences of sport in school in England mirrored the history of segregation in the education of disabled people in the UK more broadly. It also argues that that the segregated education system for disabled people and the Guttmann effect have both led to the current structure of disabled sport in England being 'upside-down' in comparison with that for non-disabled people. The chapter suggests that there is a separate structure for disabled people in sport, namely, the 'disability sports development (dis)continuum'. It shows that elite disabled athletes have few opportunities to compete for England and, therefore, expressions of English national identity.
