PORTFOLIO SantESiH

Since its creation, the SantESiH laboratory has been developing a coherent line of research focused on analyzing the processes of producing and reducing situations of disability and vulnerability in various contexts, such as education, health, sports, and leisure.

The six items selected for this portfolio illustrate this dynamic of scientific continuity, its scientific and institutional recognition, its ability to adapt to the social context, its commitment to promoting research results, and the support it provides to young researchers.

The first item is an article published in the journal Social Inclusion, co-authored by several members of the laboratory and international colleagues. It offers a critical reading of the inclusive ambitions of the Paris Paralympic Games, based on a historical analysis of their institutionalization. The article is in line with the laboratory's founding themes and its ability to contribute to the most current international debates.

The second element, the exhibition "Paralympic Stories: From Sports Integration to Social Inclusion (1948-2024)", presented at the Pantheon in Paris, illustrates the scope of the unit's research in the public sphere. Two members of SantESiH were scientific curators of this exhibition, organized as part of the Cultural Olympiad. This project was informed by more than ten years of work carried out within the laboratory on disability policies, the careers of Paralympic athletes, and representations of the body. It reflects a recognition built up over time and the laboratory's ability to present its research in ambitious formats.

The third element is a short video produced as part of the ANR Paraperf project, which was widely distributed during the Paris 2024 Games, particularly in the Club France areas and on social media. This production presents the results of a survey from work package 3 on the preparation conditions of Paralympic athletes in an animated and accessible way. This element illustrates the unit's ability to develop original and highly visible communication formats.

The fourth item is an article published in Communication & Sport, a leading international journal in the field of sports science. It is authored primarily by a postdoctoral researcher from the laboratory, recruited as part of the ANR PARAPERF project. The article analyzes forms of inequality in access to sponsors for Paralympic athletes, 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 positioning.

The fifth element is a special issue of the journal Téoros, focusing on outdoor sports activities for people with disabilities. Published in 2021, this dossier brings together eight articles exploring forms of accessibility, organizational adaptations, and social uses of natural spaces. It reflects the unit's recognition of its historical objectives, but also its desire to open up new perspectives by linking issues of inclusion with those of ecology, mobility, and tourism. This report anticipates one of the areas of development (on social participation and the challenges of ecological transition, see Part 4 "Trajectory of the unit") of the next five-year project.

Finally, the sixth piece highlights the link between research and education. It is an article published in Le Touriste Scientifique, a journal run 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 survey in the Hautes-Pyrénées. This work illustrates the laboratory's ability to train through and by research, to integrate students into knowledge production dynamics, and to incorporate its themes into educational projects.

Through these six elements, the SantESiH laboratory demonstrates the consistency of its approach, the diversity of its dissemination formats, its commitment to young researchers, and its ability to engage in dialogue with professional, cultural, and civic circles.