London 2012 delivered a fantastic Paralympics games, probably outdoing the previous also fantastic Beijing Paralympics. The reality remains however, that despite what the Paralympics committees say about viewership, disabled sport is not what people want to watch lounging in their living rooms or cheer on at the local ‘mamak’ shops. If someone even glances at a newspaper article on the Paralympics, that is already considered a win.
The only people that would watch it are the host country citizens, who have been fed with non-stop marketing, the disabled themselves, more sympathetic Western nations, and gold hungry countries who actually have a chance to win (China).
Actually I applaud the Brits for filling the stadiums to the brim. But in the rest of the world, less commendable human instincts prevail; able bodied people just feel uncomfortable watching disfigured and less able people competing in sports. Perhaps a reflection of a fear for their own unwritten fate, mortality.
How uncomfortable is it? I was watching a 100m S1 freestyle race. S1 represents the highest degree of disability, many taking part have cerebral palsy, one usable limb and other motion restrictive diseases. Some swimmers were in wheelchairs, and their able bodied helpers just plonked them into the water. My immediate thoughts were: Your trainer just dumped you like garbage from your wheelchair! He’s not swimming, he’s just quivering in the water. OMG he’s going to drown! Oh wow how brave! Should they even be in the pool? It’s the pinnacle of human perseverance. So many conflicting thoughts swirling in my mind.
The Paralympics got me thinking about the sport and life itself. And how everything in spite of how equal it is in design, really isn’t equal in real life. The Paralympics tries to level the playing field by introducing a roster of categories. But science still hasn’t caught up. Are single below the knee amputees faster than double below the knee amputees? Is your paralyzed right hand causing more drag in the water than someone without a hand? Arbitrary allocation into categories is no exact science.
If you contemplate on such things as equality between contestants, it would serve you better if you quit now. Life is invariably unfair. The Paralympics simply casts that aspect of life under the magnifying glass. The difference is that those disparities between contestants are more visually assessable in the Paralympics. All disabled men (and women) were created unequal, as are able bodied men.
So while the Olympics has a narrow minded view, the celebration of the greatest, fastest and the highest (but nowadays it’s a commercial driven gala), what then is the Paralympics all about? Their mission statement is ‘to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world’. It is not to be confused with the Special Olympics where participation alone is a cause for celebration. The founder of the games aimed to create an elite sporting competition for people with disabilities.
I completely see the rationale for a disabled person. If I were incapacitated physically, excelling in a particular sport would be the ultimate motivator. But the rest of the world, what would it really be? Inspiration, yes, excitement, maybe. Could it be a pity sport? Sincerely I question what role the Paralympics should play for the abled world.
Increasingly, Paralympics broadcast has been gaining popularity over the years. I fear that the Paralympics might follow the same over commercialized path as the Olympics. While Europe, America and China may have slowly warmed up the Paralympians, South East Asia isn’t so enchanted, Malaysia included. But when it does arrive, let’s welcome it for the right reasons and with the right motive, this most unequal of sporting events.
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