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It is crucial to create an inclusive society through sport. Many researchers have focused on the social benefits of hosting events and identified the necessity of revealing the impact of parasport. There is inadequate knowledge of what local residents perceive from spectating non-mega-parasporting events. Therefore, this research aimed to reveal the influence of spectators' perceived social benefits, subjective well-being, and support for parasport events.

A survey was conducted with questionnaires distributed to spectators of two wheelchair basketball tournaments. Of the 2,100 questionnaires distributed, 1,996 were returned; of these, 1,544 were rejected because of not having local resident status. The final response rate of useable questionnaires was 22.6% (n = 452).

Both community benefits and cultural/educational benefits positively affected subjective well-being, which also significantly affected support for the event. Further, there was no significant moderating effect of having family members or close friends with disability.

The results indicate that sporting event managers can collaborate with local educational boards and use sporting events as educational material for children to raise next-generation, highly diversity-minded leaders from the local area.

This study revealed that parasporting events have educational value. Additionally, athletes with disabilities inspire spectators, which changes the perception of their educational impacts.

This paper aims to contribute to the event legacy discourse by exploring the nexus between event legacy literature and destination competitiveness by focusing on disability sport events or parasport and addressing an identified gap in the research literature.

This is achieved through conducting a systematic review of disability sport events literature; performing an audit of international disability sport events; developing a typology of disability sport events; and outlining a research agenda drawing upon these previous steps. The typology is then placed in context to the destination competitiveness framework to provide direction for both host organizing committees and tourism destination managers. The research framework reflects the complexity of disability sport events with specific reference to the social impact of disability sport events for destinations.

Despite calls for increased research into accessible tourism and events, the potential social legacy for communities and destinations from disability sport or parasport events remains absent from most sport, event and tourism literature. The findings and resultant typology from this study provide an interdisciplinary approach to value add to the disability sport event and destination management sectors. The combined understanding of both sectors creates an opportunity to leverage further events through marketing accessibility as a competitive advantage, seizing opportunity for international and national disability events, and the subsequent event accessible tourism and general accessible tourism that improved destination accessibility provides a host city or precinct.

The disability sport event typology and a research agenda that supports future research are outcomes of this research.

These insights are beneficial to both researchers and practitioners interested in leveraging the opportunities from disability sport events to support sustainable destination development and competiveness that reflect the needs of a population with diverse access needs, including our ageing population, those with temporary disability and parents with young children.

This research lays the groundwork to support the desired social legacy for future host communities. From a theoretical perspective, given the paucity of research on disability sport, the typology offers a means to evaluate and monitor the impacts of various types of events from the perspectives of sustainable development, tourism, accessibility, community engagement and public policy. The addition of understanding destination competitiveness and the underlying criteria for accessible destination development provides opportunities to further leverage disability sport event beyond the event itself for ongoing accessible events, tourism and disability employment opportunities.

The purpose of this study is to describe knowledge, awareness and experience of different employees in a Swedish municipality (City of Gothenburg) concerning the disability perspective, accessibility and universal design in practice.

This study is based on an online survey. A total of 119 different employees responded to the survey. The data was analyzed from a mixed-method approach, using descriptive statistics and textual analysis. The study also included personal interviews with 19 employees in the City of Gothenburg.

A total of 521 employees in the City of Gothenburg participated in disability awareness exercises (DAE) at the Disability Awareness Arena to gain greater knowledge and insight on disability perspectives in different environments and services. Of these, 119 people representing different professions in soft and hard services and companies participated in the survey; and 19 people participated in personal interviews. The study showed that a vast majority of them were very satisfied and they have developed and practiced their new knowledge and attitude toward disability and accessibility.

One limitation in this study is that it has investigated the experiences and effects of the DAE 6–12 months after its implementation. Therefore, it is not possible to analyze long-term effects that the DAE can have in practice.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior study of these issues has been conducted in Sweden. This study is deemed to have significant social benefit because of the steadily increasing demand for disability simulations, awareness of disability perspective and accessibility in municipality settings. No other study has addressed the importance of the DAE in these perspectives. DAE is defined in this article as a unique concept for promoting the usage of the disability perspective in the everyday workplace.

To outline the critical role of the sporting context in traumatic experiences, exploring sport as a catalyst to traumatic experiences and as part of the recovery process. In doing this, the chapter also aims to review the qualitative literature on trauma and provide recommendations for future research directions.

The chapter begins by asking two key questions: what silences some stories of trauma in sport and what stories are valued above others? In answering these questions, the qualitative literature is discussed with particular reference to how voice is given to stories of trauma.

Trauma may be silenced by the particular norms and values that exist within sport, creating a culture in which athletes and coaches alike fear to speak out. As a consequence, trauma stories are not voiced but avoided, a strategy that is not conducive to good mental health. The difficulties in coping with trauma may then become ameliorated by the dominance and expectation of stories of growth through adversity.

Creative strategies for allowing athletes to voice stories of trauma are discussed, including the use of visual and written methods.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of para-sport spectator motivation on spectator revisit intentions and the mediating effect of attitude on motivation and revisit intentions.

This study was conducted in the context of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games. A total of 350 respondents completed a survey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data.

Inspiration, supercrip image, physical skill/aesthetics, and social interaction had strong influences on attitudes toward Winter Paralympics, and attitude was also shown to have a strong impact on revisit intentions. The results also revealed the mediating effect of attitude on para-sports motivation factors (inspiration, supercrip image, physical skill/aesthetics, and social interaction) and revisit intentions.

This study extends the literature on para-sport spectator motivation. Although there are a few studies examining spectators' motivation to attend para-sport events, there is limited research on the relationships among motivation, attitude, and revisit intention based on consumer attitude theories. The results are valuable to sport managers in increasing the propensity of para-sports events by understanding the factors that lead to changes in attitudes and increases in future attendance.

Sociology of sport in the United Kingdom is as old as the subdiscipline itself but was uniquely shaped by the prominence of football hooliganism as a major social issue in the 1970s and 1980s. While it remains a somewhat niche activity, the field has been stimulated by the growing cultural centrality of sport in UK society. This quantitative and qualitative development has been recognized in recent governmental evaluations of research expertise. Current research reflects this expanded range of social stratification and social issues in sport both domestically and on a global level, while the legacy of hooligan research is evident in the continuing concentration on studies of association football. Historically, this empirical research has largely been underpinned by figurational, Marxist/neo-Marxist, or feminist sociological theories, but there is now a greater emphasis on theoretical synthesis and exploration. As a consequence of the expansion of the field, allied to its empirical and theoretical diversity, there is a burgeoning literature produced by UK sociologists of sport that spans entry-level textbooks, research monographs, and the editorship of a significant number of specialist journals. The chapter concludes by noting the future prospects of the sociology of sport in the United Kingdom in relation to teaching, research, and relations with other sport-related subdisciplines and the sociological mainstream.

This chapter will outline the importance of engaging and informing Generation Z (Gen Z) about gender equality in UK sport governance and leadership. The chapter presents a live case study from an ongoing (2021–2026) European Commission ERASMUS + Sport Collaborative brief entitled Gender Equality Toolkit for Generation Z (GETZ) project. The theory explaining Gen Z behaviours, expectations and educational requirements will be explored as well as a review of the links between high participation rates and leadership roles in sport for men and the low participation rates and leadership roles for women, and how this issue can be addressed through wider awareness and increased education. The remainder of the chapter will introduce the online educational toolkit created through the GETZ project which attempts to build shared accountability for culture change through a teaching and learning community. Furthermore, considerations from the GETZ projects past, current and ongoing research studies related to areas of gender equality and Gen Z perceptions of inequality in sport will be discussed with the view to providing Gen Z with current knowledge on gender inequalities in sport and insight into the processes that reinforce existing inequalities as well as give them the space and skills to bring about long-term sustainable change.

To explore what suffering is, how suffering is embedded within the sociology of sport literature, and what suffering can do to athletes in sport. In addition, to discuss the value of an interdisciplinary approach and co-presence when researching athletes in suffering.

In the first part of the chapter, the concepts of pain, violence, and suffering are separated, and a justification for the study of suffering in sport is given. The second part of the chapter details sport and social problems, and the suffering body in sport is discussed, pulling from interdisciplinary theories and methodologies of suffering external to the sociology of sport.

Social inequalities and hidden forms of suffering may be reproduced in sport. Sport is questioned as a force of social mobility for vulnerable people. The context of sport can offer ‘healing’ properties for people in suffering. The impact of using an interdisciplinary approach and considering co-presence and relational suffering when researching suffering is discussed.

The difficulties understanding the complex, multi-dimensional nature of suffering are shared. New ways of engaging within the research act and specific theoretical approaches are suggested for improving the understanding of suffering within sport.