Epistemic injustice in physical education and sport: a critical disability studies perspective

This paper examines epistemic injustice as a valuable epistemological lens for critical disability studies (CDS) researchers examining issues of equity and social justice in physical education (PE) and sport. Drawing on the work of Miranda Fricker, we examine the ways in which knowledge production related to PE and sport for disabled youth may perpetuate injustices through affording excess credibility to those in positions of power who may have no lived, embodied experience of disability. We argue that disabled young people are frequently marginalised in knowledge production about PE and sport, with non-disabled adults often afforded greater epistemic authority. Building on CDS, we discuss how epistemic injustice provides tools to interrogate power hierarchies, ableist assumptions, and normative conceptions of inclusion exploring the ways in which they might shape both research and practice. We consider how testimonial injustice silences disabled youth by privileging teacher and coach perspectives and how hermeneutical injustice limits interpretive resources to make sense of diverse embodied experiences, particularly at the intersections of disability, gender, race, and class. Drawing more broadly on issues of methodological coherence and reflexivity, we reinforce the ethical responsibility of researchers to consider whose voices are prioritised in knowledge production. We argue that addressing these injustices necessitates participatory and emancipatory research methods that centre the knowledge of disabled people. We conclude that adopting epistemic injustice as an epistemological position can challenge entrenched ableist perspectives, foster more equitable research practices, and advance transformative understandings of disability, identity, and inclusion in PE and sport.