A SOCIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE DISABLED PERSON IN THE PARALYMPIC UNIVERSE: FROM STUDENTS TO ATHLETES<\/p>\n
The sport for students with disabilities constitutes a fundamental strategy for the development of the Paralympic Movement in Brazil. Among the actions carried out in this area, we underline the accomplishment of the Paralympics School Games, a sports competition for students with disabilities, organized by the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) since 2006. In congruence with its objectives and purposes, it is assumed that the sporting event was established as an opportunity for students with disabilities to be presented to the Paralympic sport and to remain professionally as high-performance athletes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to highlight the social representations produced about students with disabilities who participated in the Paralympic School Games and became Brazilian Paralympic athletes. For this purpose, information was collected in official documents of the Paralympics School Games, from 2006 to 2018. In addition, we sought information on digital media, such as the CPB website, the National Sports Network and the 2018 Paralympics School Games App. The document analysis technique was applied for the treatment and interpretation of the information. It was evidenced that, since its first editions, the Paralympics School Games have facilitated the inclusion of students with disabilities in the Paralympic sports career. The analyzes brought evidence of social representations built around eight Brazilian Paralympic athletes, who sought to conform them as Paralympic idols from the Paralympics School Games, thus conferring representations linked to the dream of the Paralympic race to students with disabilities. It is concluded that the social representations produced about our object of study mean the processes that happened before, during and after the sport competition, conforming a propitious reality to the practice of Paralympic sports in schools. Thus, they materialize opportunities for students with disabilities of permanence in sports practices throughout their life trajectories. It was noted that for some, this includes the career as Brazilian Paralympic athletes.<\/p>\n