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An investigation of the impact of multi-platform media coverage of the 2012 London Paralympic Games and the 2015 Toronto Parapan American Games upon perceptions of disability (LONTOR)
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

There is a paucity of research on the social legacy impacts of sporting mega-events, particularly disability sport events such as the Paralympic Games and the Parapan American Games. This research will adopt a comparative case study approach by comparing the multi-platform media coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games two Games as a way to assess their potential impacts upon attitudes towards, and perceptions of, people with disabilities within the host city and nation. Both host cities have/had the aim of using the Games to help change perceptions of people with disabilities within their respective countries. The aim of this project is to use the findings to inform the approaches of other cities who host major sporting or cultural events of new ways to use the media to help reframe the traditional stigmatized framing of disability. The overall objectives are, therefore, i; a current analysis of the diverse elements that impact on attitudes towards disability, and legacy in the context of large disability sport events, ii; new data on the implications of hosting major disability sporting events and their impact upon attitudes towards, and perceptions of, disability, and iii; an analysis of the use of different media by interview subjects (TV, Newspapers, Social Media etc.) and their impact upon attitudes towards disability and the Games.
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