Sparking a Revolution of Inclusion
The Paralympics in Paris should prompt a long-overdue conversation about disability in society…
This is the introduction to August’s edition of the Off-Field newsletter, curating monthly tales from the fringes of sport and society. Read it here.
It was 76 years ago this summer that neurologist Ludwig Guttmann came up with a bold idea for rehabilitating his paralysed patients at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
On the same day as the opening ceremony for the 1948 London Olympic Games, Guttmann organised a sporting event for 16 injured British servicemen, encouraging them to take part in wheelchair archery.
Guttmann was Jewish and fled the Nazi regime in 1939, but as a German treating soldiers with life-changing injuries following combat against his homeland, it was likely that he faced additional resistance to his unconventional ideas. But the doctor insisted on focusing his patients’ minds on what they could do, rather than lamenting what they no longer could.
The Stoke Mandeville Games became an annual tradition that would soon attract international entrants. “I dream of the day when there will be Olympic Games for people with disabilities,” said Guttmann of his pioneering programme.
As the 17th summer Paralympic Games began this week in Paris, it’s clear that his vision has been realised. The slick opening ceremony on Wednesday was a visual spectacle that — not for the first time this summer — put forward a strong case for the French capital to be considered the most iconic city on the planet.
But what proved more striking than the architecture, the fireworks, or even the performances, were the human stories told throughout the evening. These were not athletes sharing their experiences. After all, their stories will come. Instead, the video anecdotes were from regular “civilians” who spoke articulately and powerfully about living with their disabilities.
Lucia Retail described how she kisses her children more often because she has no hands to touch them with, Molly Burke explained how people didn’t talk to her because they feared saying the wrong thing about her blindness, and Lil Skuna joked in his wheelchair, “One day I wake up in the morning and I tell myself, ‘Ok I’m going to walk!’. No, no, no, that’s only in movies. I tried, I fell.” He was making clear that the feel-good triumphs we’re about to witness over the next 11 days are far from typical of the daily lived experiences of disabled people.
Channel 4 has done plenty of good work in championing the Paralympics since it began covering the event 12 years ago, but it’s interesting to note how their tone has changed over the years. For London in 2012 and in Rio four years later, their campaigns lauded the athletes as “superhuman” for overcoming their disabilities to achieve athletic success. Widely lauded in the mainstream press at the time, it’s now seen by many as something of a misstep for focusing on athletes’ impairments, rather than their sporting prowess. Note that in the adverts for Paris 2024, the athletes must overcome gravity, friction, and time. Not their own bodies.
In much the same way that the refugee team at the Olympics wanted to be seen as athletes rather than symbols, the same can be said of those competing at the Paralympics. They are in Paris to win and put on a sporting show. They don’t want to be sentimentalised or patronised, they just want to be seen for what they are: great athletes producing great sport. And they’ll send that message from the track, the pool, or the velodrome.
However, the Paralympics can still prompt a wider conversation about disability in society. Which is why it was a welcome choice to give the floor to non-athletes at the opening ceremony. Those who don’t see the benefits of elite sport nor enjoy the privilege of global acclaim have more reasons for their voices to be heard.
Another clip saw Martin Petit, quadriplegic as the result of an accident seven years ago, note that “Inclusivity for the disabled is inclusivity for all”. Then Paralympics President Andrew Parsons stood on the spot where, 200 years earlier, the French royal family were executed. Echoing the poignant video messages, Parsons called for the Games to prompt a societal rethink.
“The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will show what persons with disabilities can achieve at the highest level when the barriers to succeed are removed. The fact these opportunities largely exist only in sport in the year 2024 is shocking. It is proof we can and must do more to advance disability inclusion — whether on the field of play, in the classroom, concert hall or in the boardroom.
That is why 225 years on from when Place de la Concorde was central to the French Revolution, I hope the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games spark an inclusion revolution.”
Just two days before the opening ceremony, Tanni Grey-Thompson, justifiably considered one of Britain’s most influential sportspeople, had to drag herself off an LNER train in London due to a lack of support staff. A champion on the track, but a second thought off it.
It proved a timely reminder that lauding these formidable athletes every four years is not enough to ensure people with disabilities feel included in society. To be viewed as equals, not nuisances. Over the decades, Dr. Guttmann’s Paralympic Games have proven to be a revelation. Now it’s time for them to spark a revolution.
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