Paralympics

[PatHead]

At the end of these games feel I have to say how humbling it is to see all these athletes who have overcome immense challenges to be everything they are. In commenting I must also praise their families and those who have supported them. Some of the stories are tearjerking and make you feel quite inadequate.

One word sums them up -inspirational

[Jonnyboy]

At the end of these games feel I have to say how humbling it is to see all these athletes who have overcome immense challenges to be everything they are. In commenting I must also praise their families and those who have supported them. Some of the stories are tearjerking and make you feel quite inadequate.

One word sums them up -inspirational

Couldn't agree more :top marks

[Sir David Gray]

I touched on this in the Esther Vergeer thread a couple of days ago but I think, moving forward, that this Paralympic Games could open a whole new world for disabled people and sport.

The coverage that it has been given over the past couple of weeks has been fantastic and I think people in general have really taken to the Paralympics in the way that they have with the Olympics.

I think, rightly or wrongly, with a lot of people, there's always preconceived ideas about disabled people with thoughts like "He/she can't do that, they're disabled" or "They must be like that, they're disabled".

Hopefully the exposure that the Paralympics has been given in the media will allow the wider general public to see that the athletes competing in the Paralympics are elite sports men and women and that they train just as hard as their able bodied colleagues. They are no different to the athletes in the Olympics, they just have an impairment of some sort to their body which means that they compete in their own competition.

I'm not naive though, I'm well aware that people will always rather watch Usain Bolt over Oscar Pistorius (although he is a massive personality in his own right) or watch Roger Federer over Gordon Reid (British number one wheelchair tennis player) but as a disabled person myself, there a lot of barriers out there for people who are disabled and a lot of negative thoughts from people regarding disability in general and I just hope that these Paralympics help to overcome these negatives and break down some of the barriers.

It's not going to happen overnight but if it even improves things just slightly over the next few years then it will be the best possible legacy that these Games could hope to produce.

[Pretty Boy]

Fantastic viewing, enjoyed more than the Olympics if I'm honest.

Whilst it is of course inspirational to see people overcome such challenges the main thing I saw was dedicated, elite athletes.

Of course there was a bit emotion when I heard some of the stories but having been lucky enough to be brought up around disabilty and special needs what I truly saw was normal people doing extraordinary things.

Sorry for the cliche.

[Pretty Boy]

I touched on this in the Esther Vergeer thread a couple of days ago but I think, moving forward, that this Paralympic Games could open a whole new world for disabled people and sport.

The coverage that it has been given over the past couple of weeks has been fantastic and I think people in general have really taken to the Paralympics in the way that they have with the Olympics.

I think, rightly or wrongly, with a lot of people, there's always preconceived ideas about disabled people with thoughts like "He/she can't do that, they're disabled" or "They must be like that, they're disabled".

Hopefully the exposure that the Paralympics has been given in the media will allow the wider general public to see that the athletes competing in the Paralympics are elite sports men and women and that they train just as hard as their able bodied colleagues. They are no different to the athletes in the Olympics, they just have an impairment of some sort to their body which means that they compete in their own competition.

I'm not naive though, I'm well aware that people will always rather watch Usain Bolt over Oscar Pistorius (although he is a massive personality in his own right) or watch Roger Federer over Gordon Reid (British number one wheelchair tennis player) but as a disabled person myself, there a lot of barriers out there for people who are disabled and a lot of negative thoughts from people regarding disability in general and I just hope that these Paralympics help to overcome these negatives and break down some of the barriers.

It's not going to happen overnight but if it even improves things just slightly over the next few years then it will be the best possible legacy that these Games could hope to produce.

Great post FH.

[PatHead]

Falkirk

Before these games I confess I saw the Paralympics as a bit of "PCness" and didn't intend to watch it for fear of it being "almost embarrassing" with very little talent on show. (can't think of the right words but I hope you know what I mean).


As I said earlier feel it should be me who should be embarrassed

[Jonnyboy]

I touched on this in the Esther Vergeer thread a couple of days ago but I think, moving forward, that this Paralympic Games could open a whole new world for disabled people and sport.

The coverage that it has been given over the past couple of weeks has been fantastic and I think people in general have really taken to the Paralympics in the way that they have with the Olympics.

I think, rightly or wrongly, with a lot of people, there's always preconceived ideas about disabled people with thoughts like "He/she can't do that, they're disabled" or "They must be like that, they're disabled".

Hopefully the exposure that the Paralympics has been given in the media will allow the wider general public to see that the athletes competing in the Paralympics are elite sports men and women and that they train just as hard as their able bodied colleagues. They are no different to the athletes in the Olympics, they just have an impairment of some sort to their body which means that they compete in their own competition.

I'm not naive though, I'm well aware that people will always rather watch Usain Bolt over Oscar Pistorius (although he is a massive personality in his own right) or watch Roger Federer over Gordon Reid (British number one wheelchair tennis player) but as a disabled person myself, there a lot of barriers out there for people who are disabled and a lot of negative thoughts from people regarding disability in general and I just hope that these Paralympics help to overcome these negatives and break down some of the barriers.

It's not going to happen overnight but if it even improves things just slightly over the next few years then it will be the best possible legacy that these Games could hope to produce.

Great post FH. What we saw were world standard athletes who should really inspire us all and not just people with a disability.

My favourite quote came from Tanni Gray-Thompson who said "it's ok to be a crap athlete if you're disabled. We can't all be world beaters but the important thing is we should give sport a try" Maybe not verbatim but near as dammit :agree:

[Sir David Gray]

Falkirk

Before these games I confess I saw the Paralympics as a bit of "PCness" and didn't intend to watch it for fear of it being "almost embarrassing" with very little talent on show. (can't think of the right words but I hope you know what I mean).


As I said earlier feel it should be me who should be embarrassed

I totally understand what you mean and I don't think you'll have been alone in your thoughts.

A lot of people see disabled people as weak and incapable of achieving very much at all. It's something that is understandable if you have no experience of disability in your life either personally or with someone that you know, but hopefully the success of the Paralympics over the past fortnight and the fact that we have seen so many wonderful performances by different athletes in that time means that some of these beliefs and ideas will start to be changed and people will start to really respect disabled athletes and see them, first and foremost, as athletes and the fact that they are disabled will be of secondary importance.


Great post FH. What we saw were world standard athletes who should really inspire us all and not just people with a disability.

My favourite quote came from Tanni Gray-Thompson who said "it's ok to be a crap athlete if you're disabled. We can't all be world beaters but the important thing is we should give sport a try" Maybe not verbatim but near as dammit :agree:

Totally agree. I think as well another important aspect would be not to patronise athletes in the Paralympics. A lot of people might be reluctant to criticise the performance of disabled athletes in case it makes them look bad. But, believe me, if they've had a bad performance, athletes in the Paralympics would much rather that they are given the necessary criticism that their performance deserved, instead of saying nothing at all or patting them on the back and saying "oh well, you did your best."

If you're not good enough then you're not good enough, regardless of whether you're disabled or able-bodied.

That's why, in a way, I was quite pleased with the controversy that Oscar Pistorius created last week with his comments about Alan Oliveira's blades because it showed that he was no different to any other sportsman who was unhappy after just being beaten in a competition and that he was a bad loser. In the couple of days after he made these comments, the story was all over the media and in the back pages of the papers.

As much as I think Pistorius was in the wrong with the timing of what he said, I thought it was quite significant that we had widespread attention in the national media towards comments made by a disabled athlete.

The other thing that I hope to see is a change in the way that disabled youngsters are treated in PE lessons in mainstream schools. It wasn't that long ago that I was at school and the way I got treated by my PE teachers was appalling. I was, and still am, a very sporty and active person but I wasn't given anywhere near the kind of support that I should have been given to achieve my potential within the PE lessons. In my experience, a lot of the teachers simply do not have the correct training and understanding required to be able to help disabled students who comes into their class and many of them simply aren't interested.

I know that's a generalisation and that's wrong because I'm sure there are PE teachers out there who do their very best to support their disabled students and do take a proactive approach to learn more about disability and how to deal with various circumstances but in a lot of cases, the support simply isn't there and disabled people who are in mainstream schools are being discouraged from a very early age from taking up sport.

Hopefully that is something else which can be addressed in the coming years and certainly seeing people like Dave Weir, Ellie Simmonds and Sarah Storey on the back pages on the newspapers and all over the tv and radio can only improve things and help the chances that young disabled people have to get involved in sporting activity.

Having something like a sport to focus on can be so vital to the physical and psychological state of people with disabilities as it can be something that takes their mind off their daily struggles and ailments and being active is such an important part of a healthy and happy lifestyle.

I can only hope that this is just the beginning and that once the Paralympics becomes nothing more than a distant memory, things don't just go back to the way they always have been. We have a great opportunity to improve things in this country, thanks to the Paralympic Games and I just hope that opportunity is grasped.