Beyond the provider-recipient binary: reframing reciprocity in adapted physical activity service-learning

This interpretive case study explores a Service-Learning (SL) program in Adapted Physical Activity within a Brazilian public university, setting the inquiry within an underrepresented Global South context. Grounded in relational ethics and utilizing a constructionist approach, we placed the perspectives of undergraduate students in dialogue with the voices of community participants with disabilities. Findings reveal a dual reality. Internally, the program functioned as a safe haven where participants organically acted as coeducators through their embodied knowledge. This dynamic challenges the traditional semantics of ‘service’ which often connotes a unilateral delivery of aid to passive recipients; instead, we observed a collaborative co-construction of inclusion where service was mutually rendered. However, externally, the program’s conclusion highlighted a financial cliff, reflecting the complex landscape of accessing continuous specialized physical activity in the wider community. We argue that in this context, SL serves a critical role in bridging gaps in care, necessitating a focus on the sustainability of inclusion and strategies to support long-term continuity beyond the academic intervention.