Abstract
The parasports movement is marked, in France and since the 1980s, by a diversification of practices, notably with the gradual development of physical nature activities (Marcellini and Villoing, 2014). The access to natural spaces (mountainous, maritime, aerial) has become possible through technological progress and an always growing yearning for disabled people to access these spaces which are reputed as being inaccessible. Off-Road Wheelchair (ORWC), which started in France in 1991, is an example of the practices which are born from the initiative of enthusiasts who, after an accident, 'mess around in their workshop' with sporting equipment in order to rediscover their former practice. The pioneers of ORWC, to whom we gave voice (2 life history interviews) in this work, found in this practice a way to reclaim their former sensations in a mountainous milieu, but also a more touristic activity through expeditions to foreign countries. This activity was able to develop thanks to a collaboration between these 'enthusiasts', the 'handymen', local federal and political protagonists, and finally some industrialists. The aim of this work is to present conditions of institutionalization and 'sportivization' of ORWC (Guay, 1993) in France, seemingly turning it nowadays into a true tool of social participation.