The Blind Leading the Blind: Goalball as Engaged Scholarship

The paper describes an engaged scholarship course at a large public research university on the west coast of the United States. The pilot course introduces students to the scholarship on disability framed within the cultural studies of sport. Participants engage with existing literature while actively participating in goalball, a sport designed for the blind or visually impaired. Through narrative analyses of participants, three themes emerged within this engaged scholarship experience: (a) an increased sensitivity to disability issues through an academic and somatic experience; (b) challenging ableism by privileging visual impairment in a sports context; and (c) envisioning political action by creating community among unlikely partners. Based upon research findings from this pilot study, the paper proposes an integrated model of sport and disability studies at the postsecondary level, bringing together campus and community, combining academic and athletic curriculum and integrating sighted and visually impaired participants. One important outcome of the course has been to help redefine the popular adage of the blind leading the blind from an ableist metaphor to an expression of emancipatory education.