New Zealand's princess of the pool: Post-ableism and the media narrativisation of Sophie Pascoe

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted the shifting media representation of para-athletes some of whom have been increasingly visible as national sporting figures. Their mediation entangles themes of disability, nationalism, gender and technology. In this light, we explore New Zealand print media narrativisation of the nation's most prolific disability athlete, para swimmer Sophie Pascoe. First, we contextualise Pascoe's emergence as a national sporting icon characterised by plaudits and awards. Second, we explore the press narrativisation of Pascoe between 2005 and 2020 which entangled intersecting tropes of disability, athleticism, femininity and ‘kiwi’ nationalism. Pascoe is narrated as a national hero who overcomes both competitors and her disability, which is made ‘hypervisible’. There are contradictions and tensions in this narration. Her gendering reflects a ‘post-feminist’ sensibility; poised between individualistic strength and overcoming, yet simultaneously emotional fragility, dependence and dimunition as a ‘babe’ and ‘princess’. Her celebration contradictorily affirms hierarchies of disability, centring the ‘able-disabled’. The mediation of Pascoe is symptomatic of an ableist rehabilitation supercrip narrative that frames New Zealand sport (and the nation writ large) as progressive and inclusive, yet selectively celebrates an idealised type of disabled athlete.