ABSTRACT
Athletes are using social media platforms to provide unprecedented access to fans by offering up-close and personal views of their experiences. Social media allows access to information and perspectives that traditional media outlets are unable to provide (Sanderson, 2011). Athletes use social media to communicate with followers about life outside of their sport (Hambrick, Simmons, Greenhalgh, & Greenwell, 2010), which ultimately gives them control of building their own voices and audiences through their personal brand (Pegoraro, 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how athletes with disabilities can grow their fan base as well as enhance emotional attachment with existing fans. Elite athletes with disabilities can use self-presentation to bypass the lack of traditional media coverage and serve as their own marketing arm to enhance their brand through frontstage and backstage presentations. Media coverage of adaptive sports and the Paralympics is severely lacking (Pate & Mirabito, 2014). Social media, however, provides athletes with disabilities the opportunity to stay in the public eye, interact with fans, promote their sport, and increase fandom despite a lack of traditional media coverage in part due to self-presentation.
