Thursday September 6, 2012

Time to shine

The Paralympics has more than its share of inspiring moments.

SO, how has the non-stop action from the greatest show on Earth been treating you? I’m referring, of course, to the 13th Paralympic Games that kicked off in London last Wednesday. More than 4,000 of the best disabled athletes from 164 countries are taking part in one of the toughest competitions which will draw to a close on Sept 9. I’ve been trying to follow the action as much as I can on BBC Online, TV and radio.

As it turns out, it isn’t just the high octane events in the stadium that caught my attention. Here are some of the unusual, inspiring moments which provide food for thought:

Former Paralympic gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson (centre in wheelchair) carrying the Paralympic Flame on the torch relay in Piccadilly, London, prior to the opening of the Games on Aug 29.

> Paralympics vs the Olympics: There has always been debate about running the Paralympics simultaneously with the Olympics. Now for the first time I can see why having the handicapped games separately has its advantages. A re-ignition of the Games three weeks after the Olympics ended effectively brought back all the sparks, enthusiasm and euphoria of the Olympics with a special focus on disabled sportsmen and women. To me, the Games could not have achieved quite the same effect had the handicapped athletes shared the limelight with the Olympians.

The opportunity allowed for a total immersion of disability sports and what it is all about. The BBC noted that the local and worldwide coverage and appetite for disabled sports – which had been dismally unequal for years – now bodes well for future Paralympics.

It was reported that 2.4 million of the 2.5 million tickets had been sold. There is a lesson here for our media in covering local disability sports. Disabled sports NGOs have always complained that various sports events for the handicapped were not covered by our media. Perhaps the NGOs must take some blame for not putting enough effort to highlight such information to the press.

> Disabled non-athletes not left out: As the BBC put it, the opening message was clear: “From the call for intellectual curiosity from Professor Steven Hawking, to the high wire arrival in the stadium of a double-amputee serviceman, topped off by the lighting of the cauldron by the winner of Britain’s first Paralympic gold medal over 50 years ago, disabled people excel in many areas, and not just sport.” This is a brilliant point. Life can be tough for people with disabilities who have to face daily struggles in a society that has not taken their needs into account. The organisers put much thought into every possible subtlety in the ceremony.

> Disabled people as pundits and commentators on radio and TV:This is a marvellous move. Instead of always getting the perspective of people who have no experience with disability, the “straight from the horse’s mouth” approach was commendable. And what a refreshing change which brought about a multitude of views. Whilst disability activists in Britain were looking forward to Paralympic 2012 to change negative perceptions about them, they were equally concerned about the “darker side to disability in Britain.”

Charities like Scope pointed out that attitudes to people with disabilities have noticeably worsened in the past year over government plans to cut welfare benefits. Scope hopes the Paralympics could help reverse this trend. Disabled actor and stand-up comedian Liz Carr, however, is worried that the Paralympics could divide disabled people by turning them into super men and women instead of who they really are – and not within the paralympian ideal.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, winner of 11 Paralympic gold medals and one of the world’s most successful wheelchair racers, likened the Games to fairy dust. “We sprinkle (it on) life as a disabled person; it shows a snapshot in time of some extraordinary people who train very hard, who are good at sport,” she said. “It is great while it lasts, but it’s probably not going to change the world, and certainly not on its own.”

Grey-Thompson would be the first to admit that while she can leave people far behind as she powers down the track, she still cannot get down an escalator to board an inaccessible tube train and needs the public’s help to do what they regard as ordinary things.

For continued coverage on the 2012 Paralympics go tobbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/.