Comprising approximately three million members in nearly 20,000 non-profit local sports clubs, the Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet, RF) is the largest popular movement in the country. Currently, the Swedish Parasport Federation (Svenska Parasportförbundet) administrates 15 sporting activities for people with physical and/or intellectual disabilities or visual impairments. While almost everyone is member of a sports club at some point in life, relatively few people with disabilities (PWD) regularly take part in sports. This indicates there is inequality in the opportunity to pursue or access sports, which studies suggest is due to a range of factors at the individual, social and environmental level. Our study aims to identify and discuss opportunity structures for sports participation in Sweden by investigating how national, regional, and local policies shape the sports infrastructure for PWD and thus their access to it. We further consider a current organisational change of the Swedish Sports Confederation causing shifts in the infrastructural responsibility by including all sports governed by the Swedish Parasport Federation into the Special Sports Federations (Specialidrottsförbunden).
This paper is the pre-print version of a chapter submitted (June 2020) to Disability Sport in Europe. Policy, Structure & Participation. A Cross-National Comparative Perspective, edited by Caroline van Lindert, Jeroen Scheerder & Ian Brittain (London: Palgrave), in which a revised version has been approved awaiting publication.