Discussing Disabilities

 Along with the Paralympics and Special Olympics, there is also the Deaflympics for athletes with hearing impairments, and most visual impairment sports are in the Paralympics. The  ISBA  represents athletes with visual impairments and has rules regarding classification. These opportunities are not for everyone with impairments, and m any athletes with impairments face the issue of not being able to join their local or school sports teams due to the lack of accommodations that are provided. There are many nonprofits and other organizations that are designed for athletes with impairments. These organizations provide athletes with safe and accessible sporting events. Envision Blind Sports is one of these organizations.  Envision Blind Sports Envision Blind Sports is a nonprofit organization in Mercer, Pennsylvania. They have four partners which are Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, Dick's Sporting Goods, Lions of Pennsylvania Foundation, and Lions International. The organization has

\ What Are The Special Olympics? The Special Olympics were officially created in August of 1968, but there were many events that led up to its creation. Many of the events that led up to the creation were because of the Kennedy family. The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation was founded in 1946, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, JFK's sister, took over the foundation in 1957. When John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, he made intellectual disabilities a priority. More focus and funding went into researching intellectual disabilities. Between 1960 and 1964, there were many advancements in research.  In 1964, more attention went to physical activity and recreation for those with intellectual disabilities . Summer camps were started which included physical  exercise  activities based on research that showed that physical  activity had positive effects on children with intellectual disabilities. Eunice Kennedy Shriver wanted to create year-round programs to provide physical activity a

Banning Russia and Belarus The Olympic Truce has many parts to it that all participating countries must follow. The International Olympic Truce Centre was created in 2000 and promotes the Ancient Greek tradition of Olympic Truce. Its purpose is to establish peace, friendship, and understanding through sports. The Truce is designed so that the environment during the games is a peaceful and safe one, as there can be a lot of tension and anxiety during events such as the Olympics and Paralympics. The agreement that all participating countries sign states that there must be no hostilities between countries during the weeks of the games and the week before and after to ensure that all athletes make it to the games and back home safely.  A Forbes article states that Russia had signed the agreement to follow the Olympic Truce, but Russia broke that agreement by invading Ukraine. Belarus was very supportive of Russia during the invasion, so Belarus also broke the Truce. In March 2022,  The I

 What is Classification? Because of the many types of disabilities there are, it is difficult to create an equal playing field in disabled sports. In order to make games more fair, athletes in disabled sports need to be classified. The IPC defines classification as a system that determines who is eligible to compete and who competes together. Classification is accomplished by assessing to what degree the impairment affects the athlete's ability to perform. Classification must be evidence-based to ensure that they are credible and truthful to the athletes impairment level.  Classifications differ across every sport because each sport requires an athlete to do different things and use different parts of their body in different ways. Each sport has different requirements for the athlete and also for the classifier. Many sports require the classifier to have been an athlete in that sport and experience in the medical field relating to the disability.  For the Paralympics in specific,

Cheating in competitive sports, especially prestigious sporting events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, is a very serious topic. Doping and boosting are performance-enhancing methods that are also very dangerous for the athlete. Adaptive technology is something that is controversial in the sporting community. In my opinion, the use of adaptive technology should be made as fair as possible. Accessibility to the technology, financial issues, and equal opportunity should all be taken into consideration when deciding if adaptive technology should be used in specific sporting events.  Doping/Boosting and Technology Doping in sports is the use of illegal drugs to enhance performance. Doping is banned in many sporting events, including the Olympics and the Paralympics. WADA , the World Anti-Doping Agency, develops and enforces anti-doping policies in sports. Because doping is banned in many sporting events, it is very important that those rules are monitored and h

(Channel 4 Tokyo 2020 Paralympics campaign)      Media portrayal of disabilities has traditionally been very negative and has created harmful stereotypes about people with disabilities. From TV shows and movies to newscasts and articles, the same few tropes and narratives have been used, which have enforced negative stigmas towards disabilities. Because of this portrayal and the fact that people with disabilities have always been looked down upon, media coverage of the Paralympics is not what it should be for how common disabilities are in the world today. There have   been many different ideas on how to increase and change media coverage of disabled sports and portrayal of disabilities, but there is still a lot that needs to change.    Portrayal of Disabilities in the Media      While media portrayal of disabilities is beginning to become normalized, showing them more accurately, it began with them being shown in a very negative light and is still seen today in many TV shows and movie