London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Including Volunteers with Disabilities—A Podium Performance?

Abstract

This article presents an examination of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games' volunteers who identified as having access needs and/or disabilities. The methodology draws upon data collected as part of a larger quantitative mixed method research design through an online survey that included open-ended questions. The quantitative element of the online survey was framed by the Special Event Volunteer Motivation Scale together with sociodemographic questions supplemented by disability and access specific questions. The qualitative analysis of the open-ended responses of the experiences of people with disability was framed using the UK government's Office of Disability Issues (ODI) policy conceptualization of the barriers affecting the access and inclusion of people with disability. A small number of volunteers related feedback consistent with the principles of the ODI best practice through good staff support and overall positive experiences. However, other experiences indicate significant organizational, environmental, and structural issues faced by volunteers with disability in the program. The implications of these findings for future event planning processes and broader macropolicy considerations are discussed.

The Influence of Volunteers’ Psychological Capital: Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment, and Joint Moderating Effect of Role Identification and Perceived Social Support

“…From a practical perspective, our study takes volunteers served for the community as the research object to explore the impact of psychological capital on volunteering. Previous studies have designed training programs for volunteers from specific organizations including volunteers for the museum and the Olympic Games so that they can have the sustainability of volunteering (Green and Chalip, 2004;Edwards, 2005;Fornyth, 2010;Dickson et al, 2013Dickson et al, , 2015Darcy et al, 2014). Our research can provide some directions for the sustainable development of volunteering of those volunteers served for the community.…”

Understanding the "lived Experience" of Sport Event Volunteers: Using the Hermeneutic Circle as a Guiding Conceptual Framework

“…Sport helps create a sense of cohesion and bounds people through shared emotional connections to promote a sense of community (Cuskelly, 2008;Kristiansen, Skirstad, Parent, & Waddington, 2015) and to increase human and social capital (see Bradbury & Kay, 2008;Cuskelly, 2008;Darcy, Dickson, & Benson, 2014), which makes people feel like they belong and have mutual support. Chalip's (2006) work attempted to shift practical and conceptual perspectives by identifying how social outcomes were leveraged.…”

“…Chalip's (2006) work attempted to shift practical and conceptual perspectives by identifying how social outcomes were leveraged. There exists leveraging of individual skills contributing to human/ social capital development (Darcy et al, 2014); however, research has highlighted that people are often seeking skills in line with their future aspirations (Hayton, 2016).…”

Exploring experiences and emotions sport event volunteers associate with ‘role exit’

“…While sport helps create a sense of cohesion, and bounds people through shared emotional connections (Hayton, 2017;Kristiansen et al, 2015), volunteering helps increase human and social capital (see Adams, 2012;Darcy et al, 2014;Welty Peachey et al, 2013) making people feel like they belong (Wise, 2017). Chalip's (2006) work attempted to shift practical and conceptual perspectives by identifying how social outcomes were leveraged.…”

“…Chalip's (2006) work attempted to shift practical and conceptual perspectives by identifying how social outcomes were leveraged. Leveraging individual skills contributes to human/social capital development (Darcy et al, 2014), but people do often seek skills in line with their future aspirations and professional development (Hayton, 2016). Therefore, sport volunteering research has put much attention on sports clubs (e.g.…”