Do the Paralympics give a true representation of disabled people?

[mids2019]

I am watching the Paralympics in the Commonwealth Games and I am struck by the resilience, tenacity and strength of character of the para athletes. They truly are positive role models.

However is there danger of the Paralympics giving a false impression to the able bodied public that disability is 'not that bad' as superficially it looks like disabled people can train to become athletes and be fêted on the world stage?

Disability in this country can be categorised by minimal state benefit, poor state support and real chance of poverty . Of course you have the ongoing stigma of disabilities in general within society.

The Paralympians I have seen interviewed are very eloquent but there seem to be few working class athletes. Are we hiding the fact that having a severe disability from a poor family with multiple social needs may be as grim experience and Paralympians as a group could aid in hi ighlighting this.

There’s discrimination in all areas of life if you’re disabled. My physically disabled DD attended a few wheelchair basketball sessions but she couldn’t wheel herself round fast enough/catch and pass the ball well enough, to ever be part of the team. We’ve yet to find any sport which suits her but that’s no different to me in some ways. Despite being able-bodied, I’ve never found a sport I’m good at. As a family, we don’t feel any more inspired by Olympians or Para-Olympians as neither have anything in common with us.

This is one of the most baffling threads!
Happy to be corrected, but is op advocating athletes for paralympics should not be selected for their prowess and ability at the event, but by some arbitrary reason op can't define yet?

Excuse all my typo in my initial post maybe fencing Is too difficult to adapt or something have you looked into it ?

I think the danger is when people think all disabled people should be elite athletes because they are disabled

Really? do people really think that all disabled people should be elite athletes? Are folk really that thick? Really?

I used to be part of a competitive Bowling team when I was younger . Or maybe Boccia would suit her.

@MajorCarolDanvers ditto! Forgot to add that to my post!

@Mrsjayy thanks for the suggestions but we’ve tried Boccia and she needed so much assistance to take part that she felt that someone else was actually doing the taking part. She/we, aren’t unhappy about the situation, I was just pointing out that not all disabled people are inspired by the Paralympics, just as Olympians don’t inspire me. I’m happy for them but they add nothing to my life….and that’s perfectly ok. 😄

@MichelleScarn

If you look at the Paralympics website (official) there about ten defined disability types that allow eligibility to take part in Paralympic events.

It may be that the defined types of disability could be expanded on in my opinion I.e. increasing representation.

Paralympics was founded as an organisation by WW2 veterans with spinal injuries initially but the number of types of disability included in events has increased to accommodate and allow representing for more disabled athletes.

I think this representation should be as wide as practical.

The other question was whether Paralympians were representative of all people with disabilities and the answer seems to be no.

I think that barriers to Paralympic sport e.g. fiance should be reduced to allow more participation i.e. those with limited means are represented as well.

I'm not really sure what OP is getting at either tbh. As a disabled person, I'd say the main problem with Paralympics representation is that it's often the only representation of disabled people on mainstream TV. It's great in itself, but imagine if the only time we saw non-disabled people on the telly was in the Olympics. To improve attitudes towards us from the rest of society, we need disabled actors to be hired to play disabled roles, disabled TV presenters, coverage of disabled events that aren't purely portrayed as inspiration porn, and so on.

@NeverDropYourMooncup

I can see your point.

Unfortunately there are some that will see Paralympians (elite athletes) and somehow connect their outward visible success with the experience of the wider disabled community. Obviously this isn't the case but there are an ill natured minority that would use the Paralympics to 'show' to show that disabled people can achieve great things if only to hey had the 'mental fortitude'.

This is an emotive issue for me.

I broke my back and was also born with genetic disabilities. I was very cruelly bullied by a total creep of a cunt while on a group festival holiday abroad in 2019. My holiday ended with him berating me out of everyone else's earshot because paralympians can do XYZ so I'm absolutely pathetic for being so needy and lazy.

He was incredibly ableist and horrid. And try as I might, I can't entirely shake the memories.

The Paralympics is great of course, but I would love to see disabled people properly represented in all areas and fields, both in and outside the public eye. It the only time you see a disabled person is on the Paralympics you could think either disabled people are athletes or do nothing, when actually disabled people work in lots of different jobs but just are not well represented on TV.

I think many of us are with you on that page. The OP seems to think either there should be a category for every single disability (“and welcome to the 3,000 day Paralympics where everyone does everything”); or that people should be picked because they represent their disability and not their sport; or something else entirely.

The following sports, to name but a few, do not appear in the Olympics: American football, mixed partial arts, cricket, chess, squash, bowling, darts, netball, “roller sports”, floorball. Dozens have previously been Olympic sports and are no longer: www.topendsports.com/events/discontinued/list.htm#:~:text=Since%20the%20first%20modern%20Games,%2C%20lacrosse%2C%20and%20motor%20boating. Personally, I am thinking of starting a campaign to re-introduce club swinging and duelling pistol, both of which I am sure will prove popular. And oddly, we really need a campaign for more BMX elites over the age of 30 – it’s very unrepresentative, you know? And what about SE Asian skateboarding? To say nothing of geriatric categories – even over 70 year olds can be elite athletes and when was the last time you saw them get a shot at Gold?

OP – it is just sports. Or to be more precise, it’s just some sports, not all of them. It isn’t meant to be representative. It’s elite, so by its very nature it isn’t representative. And those with disabilities who excel at these things are not representative of people with disabilities, of people with their disability, or anything else. They don’t have any more right or entitlement or status to represent anyone other than themselves than I do. I don’t speak for all people with disabilities. I speak for myself. And I still find your expectations discriminatory and offensive. You are holding a position on people with disabilities that you don’t advocate for others. If you’d like to see more opportunities for people to excel at sports, no matter who or what they are, then great. But stop singling out people with disabilities as being a special case. They aren’t.

Hmm. Tricky. They are the elite. Not the same as some MN'er who has been denied respite care for their disabled child - eg, by the 'caring' Government, for her dc who has severe xxxx say cerebral palsy with many fits.

The finance thing is true of Olympic athletes as well.

A poor child is highly unlikely to end up competing in showjumping whether they are able bodied or disabled.

A poor child is highly unlikely to end up competing in skiing whether they are able bodied or disabled.

Money is always a barrier to certain sports, and you talk about lowering the finance barrier as if someone has arbitrarily decided you need to have X amount of money to learn a sport and compete. Where does this money come from?

As to increasing the amount of types of disability that are included, you have said yourself that they have increased them, and will probably continue to do so. Both the Olympics and Paralympics are ever evolving.

If you think there is a disability etc that is missing then have you looked to see whether there is actually a call for that to be included? Are there sports people interested in being included?

Because we can't force disabled people to become athletes just because we would like to see their particular type of disability included in a sporting event.

I think this representation should be as wide as practical.

Agree, but it's the 'as practical' bit that is equally important. It just isn't practical to have every disability/category/sport represented.

The other question was whether Paralympians were representative of all people with disabilities and the answer seems to be no.

Which is as it should be - I'm not sure why elite sports should be representative of everyone who shares a physical category.

I think that barriers to Paralympic sport e.g. fiance should be reduced to allow more participation i.e. those with limited means are represented as well.

You use the word 'represented' incorrectly here - at least I hope you do. Yes barriers absolutely should be reduced - but so as to be accessible to all, not so that poor people are represented. More participation is to spot talent and nurture it to elite level.

Because ASD and MH issues do not limit your physical ability. They might limit your ability to motivate yourself, but having ASD doesn't have any bearing on your ability to run fast or throw far etc etc.

Sorry, but this is absolute bollocks. The sensory disturbance that is part of ASD can absolutely impact all those things. My son has under-sensitive vestibular sense, which means he can't sense the ground and struggles with balance - he's 8 and still can't jump off the ground and land without falling over, still can't hop, his running is slower and more 'lollopy' than most kids. He also has under-sensitive proprioceptive sense which mens he can't feel where his body is in space - so coordinating movements is very challenging. He cannot catch a ball or kick a ball, he's almost nine.... LOTS of autistic people struggle with physical activity.

I don't necessarily expect the average Mumsnetter to be aware of this but it really upsets me that the Paralympics doesn't acknowledge that autism can very much be a physical condition (also dyspraxia.) My son goes to a disabled Swimming Club and loves the water. But if he ever wanted to compete - there is no place for him in most competitions....

My dsis was selected for the Beijing paralympics. She was chosen to represent her country because of her performances in other events. She was not some kind of poster girl for anything.

OP has given me a headache

100%

I was watching the horrific films of how the disabled are treated in Ukraine and then the presenter went on to say how well Ukraine had done in the paralympics. So I don't think they mean much on a population level although obviously they do on an individual level.

@Antigonesaunt

👏

Ignore me if this isn't appropriate, I don't know all the ins and outs of it but would the special olympics be appropriate? I saw a wonderful programme about JFK's sister who started it and it seemed a very positive initiative.

@Jalisco

Your argument seems to be that because they the type of sport in elite sport e.g. the Olympics varies from year to year we have some inherent discrimination in sport generally e.g are we discriminating against skate boaders if that event isn't included .

We don't want to extend this discrimination to people though and by allowing more disabled groups to be represented at an elite level we can combat discrimination

It is acknowledged to hat the Paralympics were set up to level th we playing field (check out their website) and this should be done as much as possible looking not only at disability type but the barriers preventing certain disabilities participating at an elite level.

If a certain group of disabled people e.g. ASD were to lobby the Paralympics bodies for inclusion on maybe that specific measure that should be done.

The Paralympics do not exist to ‘represent’ disabled people, they exist as a competition to enable too disabled sports competitors to pitch themselves in elite events against their peers.

Your posts sound ever so paternalistic OP.