PORTFOLIO SantESiH

Since its inception, the SantESiH laboratory has pursued a consistent line of research focused on analyzing the processes that contribute to and mitigate situations of disability and vulnerability in various contexts, such as education, healthcare, sports, and recreation.

The six projects selected for this portfolio illustrate this commitment to scientific continuity, its scientific and institutional recognition, its ability to adapt to the social context, its focus on disseminating research findings, and the support it provides to early-career researchers.

The first contribution is an article published in the journal *Social Inclusion*, co-authored by several members of the laboratory and international colleagues. It offers a critical examination of the inclusive goals of the Paris Paralympic Games, based on a historical analysis of their institutionalization. The article aligns with the laboratory’s core themes and demonstrates its ability to contribute to the most current international debates.

The second component, the exhibition “Paralympic Stories: From Sports Integration to Social Inclusion (1948–2024),” presented at the Panthéon in Paris, illustrates the impact of the unit’s research in the public sphere. Two members of SantESiH served as scientific curators for this exhibition, organized as part of the Cultural Olympiad. This project was informed by more than a decade of work conducted within the laboratory on disability policies, the career paths of Paralympic athletes, and representations of the body. It reflects recognition built over the long term and the laboratory’s ability to translate its research into ambitious outreach formats.

The third element is a short video produced as part of the ANR Paraperf project, which was widely shown during the Paris 2024 Games, particularly at Club France venues and on social media. This animated and accessible video presents the findings of a study from Work Package 3 on the training conditions of Paralympic athletes. This element illustrates the unit’s ability to develop original and highly visible outreach formats.

The fourth contribution is an article published in *Communication & Sport*, a leading international journal in the field of sports science. It is co-authored by a postdoctoral researcher from the laboratory, who was recruited as part of the ANR PARAPERF project. The article analyzes forms of inequality in Paralympic athletes’ access to sponsors, in relation to media representations of their bodies. By conceptualizing the figures of the “cyborg,” the “supercrip,” and the logic of “inspiration porn,” it proposes an innovative theoretical framework for disability studies. This text also demonstrates SantESiH’s commitment to supporting young researchers in achieving high-level publication, as well as its critical and internationalized stance.

The fifth issue is a special edition of the journal Téoros, focusing on outdoor sports activities for people with disabilities. Published in 2021, this issue brings together eight articles exploring forms of accessibility, organizational adaptations, and the social uses of natural spaces. It reflects the unit’s commitment to its historical focus areas, as well as its desire to open up new perspectives by linking issues of inclusion with those of ecology, mobility, and tourism. This special issue anticipates one of the development priorities (on social participation and the challenges of ecological transition; see Part 4, “The Unit’s Trajectory”) of the upcoming five-year project.

Finally, the sixth piece highlights the connection between research and education. It is an article published in *Le Touriste Scientifique*, a journal edited since 2021 by students in the Master’s program in Sports Tourism Management at the University of Montpellier and hosted on the website of the Department of Sports Management, with methodological and scientific support from members of SantESiH. Anna Siegel’s article analyzes the limitations of the “Tourism & Disability” public policy based on a qualitative field study in the Hautes-Pyrénées. This work illustrates the laboratory’s ability to provide training through research, to integrate students into knowledge-production processes, and to incorporate its research themes into educational projects.

Through these six elements, the SantESiH laboratory demonstrates the coherence of its research priorities, the diversity of its outreach formats, its commitment to young researchers, and its ability to engage with professional, cultural, and civic communities.