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.

@Softplayhooray

Sorry for any offence felt and none was intended.

All sporting events should aim for increased diversity including able bodied athletes.

Sporting bodies of all types should aim to remove any barriers to this aim.

But there is diversity!

The only barrier is not being good enough at the sport to be selected for the Games!

I really do not understand what you want changed.

i don’t think she knows herself!

OP do you want more opportunities for people wether able bodied or with a disability to access sport by making more funding available so money isn't a barrier. Because if so I doubt many people would disagree with you. This obviously wouldn't mean necessarily people from poorer backgrounds would end up competing at elite level as that would depend on ability but at least they would have a chance. If tbis isn't what you mean I give up trying to understand you.

Are you wanting for eg, football, basketball, swimming for people of every disability to be included in the Paralympics etc?

No, neither do the Olympics give a true representation of non-disabled people. Both represent a selection of highly skilled, trained, committed and talented people. The 'problem' with the Paralympics (for me as a disabled person) is that they are used as the primary representation of disability in mainstream media, so people think they represent all people with disabilities and the problematic 'supercrip' narrative, that if only we all tried harder we could be superhuman.

When The Last Leg covered the 2012 Para Olympics, the said " you need to remember these people are world class athletes, who also have a disability", hence they are in no way representative.

As you said OP they are amazing and inspiring

Unfortunately sport costa money - these athletes train for hours a day, day in day out and someone has to sponsor them to do so.

A friends daughter does a competitive sport and she attends a school abroad to do this, it costs thousands, I’m not sure my children would’ve moved away from home at 12 to do that. Another is a competitor dancer, again at boarding school. All costs money and her mother works three jobs to keep her there.

Poverty is the biggest deciding factor.

@itsgettingweird - athletes with learning disabilities can only compete in 3 sports (out of a potential 22). There are no categories for people with down syndrome or any other similar conditions that incorporate physical difficulties alongside learning disabilities. It does seem as though elite athletes with learning difficulties are being excluded, despite the existence of those categories you mention.

Isn't the special Olympics for athletes with DS or other learning disabilities? Perhaps there should be special paralympics too for those with both learning and physical disabilities.

I agree with this. Well said.

Elite sport favours those who have access to sport as a child and those who can afford to fund themselves before they reach the top. Twas ever thus, disabled or able bodied.

Disabled is not a dirty word. I don't think it's offensive to say "disabled people", I mean, we are disabled. Many disabled people agree with this. Agree "the disabled" as a noun is a bit gross. It does vary country to country though, I think in the USA the prevailing preference tends to be "people with disabilities". It's a personal thing too. My personal view is that if someone has to use person-first language simply to remind themselves that we are not just our disabilities, then they have bigger problems than language.

And "differently-abled" is, in my opinion, and unpleasant euphemism which encourages non-disabled people to overlook our access requirements.

Absolutely not.
My son although pretty good at athletics couldn't travel to the stadiums,eat the food (restricted diet) and handle the vast volume of people.
It's not what's life for most disabled people sadly

Definitely this Is my take on" differently abled" It is like the old fashioned "like everyone " else that I grew up with your illness physical condition was something to be ashamed of embarrassed about and something you didn't talk about because or made others uncomfortable.

I just watch it as I do any other sport I have on the TV - for almost background noise, rarely register what impairment category it is while the event's running. I do get fucked off with some of the issues with classification meaning that some sections of the disabled community get shafted (my child has dyspraxia so it's a particular bone of contention for us).

But it's about as representative of the disabled community at large as the able-bodied athletes are - a tiny, elite bunch.

I don't like it when it veers toward inspiration porn though - which thankfully it's been very free of.

It's true you can't compete in all sports with a LD.

The same way there is only selected sports for those with physical disability or visually impaired.

But that doesn't mean what people are saying about having asd is true. For a start it isn't a MH condition as mentioned and not all people with asd have a learning difficulty and many are actually classified in the physical impairment category as it's Co morbid.

There are many separate games for people with specific disabilities such as the world dwarf games, deaf games, CP sport which has a world games, special olympics etc.

The olympics for AB and para sports are just a small part of it.

I think the issue is that they don't advertise the platforms where grass roots sports are taking place enough (most are streamed on you tube etc) and so people only see a snap shot rather than the full diverse picture.

The Olympics doesn't represent me as a rather podgy 40+yo with back problems either...

My dd has a disability that is fairly well represented at the paralympics (missing her arm). In fact she has a couple of friends who are in the UK team with similar disabilities.
It's a difficult one because you can't have every single disability represented in every way because little things can make a difference. For example the amount of arm for dd defines which category she would be in.
I think dd would be in:
A8 "Unilateral below the elbow upper limb amputations"
But actually there's quite a difference in just below the elbow (as she is) and almost at the wrist. If you start making the distinction there though, then you start getting more and more categories.
I also sometimes wonder how they choose events they offer for each disability too. For dd: There lots of running events she would be eligible for, when missing an arm makes some but not huge amount of difference (balance issues). But no event for upper limb amputees in tennis, which I think it makes much more difference.
But on the whole I think they have it quite well worked out. Yes, I think every parent/person with a disability could argue that their disability would benefit from more categories, but I'd imagine that the people who deal with it are looking at the broader picture which i am unable to do.

There is. And those of us whose IQ is above 70, are excluded. It shouldn't just be about IQ though. Many of us have a lot of difficulties too.

So much in this thread that's interesting. Paralympic classification is done on function not your named disability so for example in paradressage,the classifiers look at mobility in joints etc. They assess which grade you go into. It doesn't assess your riding ability. Ie you can be graded as a 2 which means you don't have to canter in tests because it's unlikely you will be able to but several riders with that grading do canter, they just don't have to in competition. In the same way, you may be graded a 4 which includes canter in the tests. This doesn't mean you can canter, you may not be good enough. Just that your body is physically judged able enough. This means people with the same disability eg Cerebral palsy can be in different grades. Also, you would compete against people with quite different conditions but who gave been judged that the condition has a similar impact on your performance.
Personally, I don't like the term able bodied either, many non disabled people are not really that 'able' so it seems an odd term to use.
Many Paralympians do use their platform to talk about issues that face disabled people, Sophie Christianson has been mentioned for her travel campaigning.
As for para sport being inclusive, if you are on a performance programme, you will often get some funding, not all the sports are elitist but often it does come down to opportunities.
Competitive Sport for those with ASD who don't also have a learning or physical disability is limited as Special Olympics done on IQ, but ASD can have a huge impact on a person's ability to train/ compete. This could definitely be explored more.
The more people talk about sport and physical activities for disabled people though the more people learn so whilst I don't agree with some of the points raised, it's great to have a measured discussion which includes a range of views. I've worked with all levels of athlete in a couple of sports, from grass roots up to Paralympics so have had some great insight into some of the challenges ( as a non disabled person).

I dontbth8nkn