“I think I became a swimmer rather than just someone with a disability swimming up and down:” paralympic athletes perceptions of self and identity development

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of self and identity development.Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was taken. During semi-structured interviews, five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20–24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.Results: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis yielded three superordinate themes: (a) “One of the crowd”; none of the participants viewed themselves as disabled, nor as supercrips; these perceptions stemmed from family-, school-, and swimming-related experiences, (b) “Becoming me”; participation in swimming facilitated self- and social-acceptance, and identity development, and c) “A badge of honor”; swimming presented opportunity to present and reinforce a positive identity.Conclusions: Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social id...