The myth of a “human right to sport”: how human rights can lead to true inclusion for children with disability

Abstract

Fundamental Principle 4 of the Olympic Charter provides, ‘[t]he practice of sport is a human right’. However, to think of the practice of sport as a human right is misleading and potentially unhelpful to the true inclusion of children with disability in sport. The various permutations of a human right to sport—a right in sport; a right to participate in sport; a right to the practice of sport; and a right to sport—result in an attitude that children with disability are provided sporting opportunities in a way that are separate, segregated, or unnecessarily different. In this article, we argue that sport should be thought about and analysed through a different human right: the right to non-discrimination. If the right being applied to the experience for a child with a disability in sport, is that of non-discrimination, then the aim is to provide the child with the same experience as a mainstream child. This also means that the focus changes from providing a right to ‘sport’, which results in access to simply the physical activities of sport and shifts to the experience the child has within a sport. Most importantly, the human right to non-discrimination means that a child with disability should have the opportunity to be included in mainstream sport, with adjustments to provide them with a fair and meaningful contest.