Equal abilities – the Swedish parasport federation and the inclusion process

A major organizational change is currently taking place in Swedish sports, with people labelled with disabilities leaving the Swedish Para-sport Federation (SPF) to participate in mainstream sports under the Swedish Sports Confederation. The aim of this study was to map the expectations of this ongoing process of the stakeholders of the SPF. Based on a questionnaire with 130 respondents connected to the SPF we found that, overall, the respondents were optimistic about mixed training groups, something that could point towards the possibility of equality between PLwD (people labelled with disabilities) and mainstream athletes. However, a rather large number of respondents feared negative consequences in terms of the physical environment for PLwD. This means that inclusion may create a dilemma regarding the relationship between the individual and the environment. We conclude that inclusion works at different levels of organized sport and there is insufficient knowledge about the impact of inclusion.Likvärdiga villkor i Sveriges största folkrörelse (Forte