ABSTRACT
Scholarly activity on disability, sport and physical activity has burgeoned in recent years. We now have numerous books (e.g., Berger 2009; Brittain 2009; DePauw and Gavron 1995; Fitzgerald 2009; Goosey-Tolfrey 2010; Howe, 2008; Thomas and Smith 2009), several journal special editions (e.g., Leisure Studies 2009, vol. 28; Sociology of Sport Journal 2001, vol. 18; Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 2009, vol. 2; Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, forthcoming 2012), a number of specialist journals (e.g., Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly; European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity) and a throng of journal papers devoted to disability, sport and physical activity. Scholarship also spans a range of disciplines, including sport sociology, physical education, sport and exercise physiology, sport biomechanics, and exercise and sport psychology. Given this situation, in this chapter our aspirations are modest. Many stones are left unturned and, given our background, we limit ourselves to work done in the social sciences.1 The main aim is to give a flavour of some of the scholarly social scientific activity and offer some research directions scholars might take in the future. The first section focuses on elite disabled sport. In the second section, we examine leisure time physical activity. Finally, we reflect on some challenging issues in the area of disability, sport and physical activity, and consider directions of travel for each issue.
