The 1967 Paraplegic Games in Winnipeg: a history of the origins and impacts of Canada’s first international para sport competition

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dc.contributor.authorMoyer, Colleen
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeHansen, Nancy (Disability Studies)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeYi, Kyoung (David) (Kinesiology and Recreation Management)
dc.contributor.supervisorField, Russell
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-09T18:30:21Z
dc.date.available2024-12-09T18:30:21Z
dc.date.issued2024-12-09
dc.date.submitted2024-12-09T15:54:44Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineKinesiology and Recreation Management
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts (M.A.)
dc.description.abstractIn 1967, Winnipeg, Manitoba, hosted the Pan American Games. Not included in written histories of this event is the subsequent “Paraplegic Games (Pan Am 1967)” hosted one week later using many of the same venues. The Paraplegic Games were the first international wheelchair sport competition in Canada. Men and women competed in nine different sports over five days. Two contemporary articles, published in medical journals, highlighted the medical aspect of disability rather than the actual Games themselves. These are the only scholarly analyses of the event, as it remains absent from Canadian sport history and histories of Para sport, both in Canada and internationally. This qualitative research project collected data on the Paraplegic Games from five different archives, as well as the personal documents on another researcher. Three oral history interviews supplemented the archival research. In pursuing the study’s research questions -- how did the Paraplegic Games come to fruition? and what were some of the impacts of the Paraplegic Games? – three topics emerged. The first explores the organization of the Paraplegic Games, including why the Pan American Games were approached to host Canada’s first international wheelchair sport competition. The second considers the impacts of the Paraplegic Games at the local, national, and international level. The final topic examines the way the organizers approached the event; in the early years of Para sport, sport was used strictly for rehabilitation and was very medicalized. The organizers for the Paraplegic Games saw sport as an opportunity for social change, to show society that people with disabilities were “strong and capable” rather than “weak and helpless.” The 1967 Paraplegic Games marks the first documented wheelchair competition of sport being used for social change rather than rehabilitation.
dc.description.noteFebruary 2025
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/38702
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectPara sport history
dc.titleThe 1967 Paraplegic Games in Winnipeg: a history of the origins and impacts of Canada’s first international para sport competition
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
local.subject.manitobayes
oaire.awardTitleSSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master (CGS-M)
project.funder.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155
project.funder.nameSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
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