I’m quickly popping in because the sixteenth Paralympics began in Paris yesterday. Here’s a bit of history if anyone would like to know more.
I’ve never watched any of the Paralympics before. I do enjoy watching some events in the Olympics, both summer and winter, even though I don’t follow sports any other time of year. (Except that I’m a massive figure skating fan circa 1990s, but skating these days makes me sad, so…) Why have I never seen the Paralympics? Because the event is hardly advertised, promoted, celebrated, or aired on TV. Now we’ve got paid streaming services that actually cover it (Peacock), and the Paralympics has its own official YouTube channel, so there is some coverage available for free.
I also really, really love this “Yes, I Can” video for Rio 2016, and that’s when the Paralympics really got on my radar. It’s almost inspiration porn, but the amazing things that the people are doing, interspersed with daily tasks, are actually amazing, and it’s just a beautifully made music video!
This year, I’m trying to pay attention to the Paralympic Games while they’re happening, instead of watching a few clips after the fact. I think it’s akin to women’s sports. The media doesn’t think there’s interest, and therefore monetary value, in disabled sports, so we’ve got to watch and support and spread the word so that the Paralympics become something we celebrate the world over, just like the Olympics.
I watched the highlights of the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony on youtube this morning. (The Games opened yesterday, 28 August. I was able to watch a 30 minute highlights video, which, when I went to link it just now, is not available in my country. So if you’re in the US and you want to support the Paralympics, I guess we need to shell out the eight bucks for Peacock.) As I said, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen more than a clip of the Paralympics. I loved what I saw. A vast, accessible stage where dancers danced, dancers using wheelchairs and crutches, able-bodied dancers interacting with disabled dancers. Darn right, it made me emotional to see all those performers center stage, cheered on and celebrated alongside disabled athletes.
It made me realize–we should see this all the time. Seeing an inclusive array of bodies everywhere, because we exist everywhere, could be perfectly ordinary. Can you imagine that? I honestly cannot. I cannot imagine seeing an illustration in a children’s book of someone with crutches and not thinking, “Hey, look! Someone with a disability!” in surprise and delight. Even though it’s happening more and more, in ads, I still say, “Look! A wheelchair user! Good job, [insert whatever company here]!”
So, yes, more than once as I sat watching the highlights of all these beautiful performers and the athletes carrying their flags, I was flooded with emotion, emotion over what I was seeing, and over the vision I had of the world as it could be. And emotion that it’s taken this long for that vision of the world to come to me.
Then there were some clips of various speeches. Tony Estanguet, a French Olympic canoeist and the president of the organizing committee for Paris 2024, said in his speech, “When the sport starts, we will no longer see men and women with a disability, we will see you: we will see champions.”
Aw, nuts. Were there no sensitivity readers for this speech? I wish I could say this loud enough for everyone in the back to hear: When you say you don’t see disability, you are saying that there is something wrong with disability, that it shouldn’t be seen. People can be disabled AND be champions! That is, in fact, the whole point of the Paralympics! If you are not seeing our disabilities, then you are not seeing us. (“Hello. I’m so wonderful that I see you the way it makes ME comfortable to see you, rather than seeing you as you are.”) It’s so frustrating that there’s still so much ableism in this incredible event that’s supposed to celebrate these athletes and all they’ve worked for. And, yeah, there’s lots of internalized ableism in some of the athletes as well. Lots of “We can do anything we put our minds to” kind of talk. It’s okay not to be able to do everything! We are all allowed to be just as we are and need just as much help as we need.
Normalize disability. There is so much amazing diversity in our human existence! Normalize that disabled people exist in all sorts of ways and interact with abled-bodied people in all sorts of ways. It’s okay to see disabled bodies! In fact, it’s downright awesome!
What Happened to Your Legs? 