Paralympics should be part of Olympics

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feast4thebeast
feast4thebeast Posts: 210 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was having a think about the concept of the Paralympics today. By having this event after the Olympics and not at the same time as just further highlights a society where disability is marginalised from mainstream society. I know it would be difficult to host the extra events but I don't see why it would be a big deal to have the wheelchair races in with the full bodied ones. Lots of other examples can be thought of too. What do others think about this?

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  • roduk
    roduk Posts: 43 Member
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    Two weeks between them is too long IMO. if the paralympics was on before the Olympics it would be a good warm up act and get interest building toward the Olympics. Unfortunately i think it would be impossible to run them both side by side. After the closing ceremony of the Olympics alot of people just foregt about the paras which is sad thing.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I agree with you.

    As a previous poster said, people can just forget about the paralympics after the closing ceremony. It would be good to see them both run at the same time.
  • joybedford
    joybedford Posts: 1,680 Member
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    I am so excited about the paralympics. the main olympics really inspires me anyway but these people are competing against the odds and they are truly amazing. My sons have autism and ADHD and this is a great example to them if Michael Phelps can achieve all he has why can,t they. MY oldest boy isn,t romotely interested in sport but my youngest is obsessed with Usain Bolt and as a result of watching the olympics wants to join an athletics club, he may not be able to cope but it is worth a try. I hope peolpe dont forget about the paralympics as it will be a real shame.
  • bossmodehan
    bossmodehan Posts: 210 Member
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    I can't wait for the paralympics!!! Perhaps it would be too much to run them side by side, but back-to back (ie. no 2 week break) and saving the closing ceremony for after paralympics would make it more inclusive and keep the olympic spirit across all the events.
  • Tiggermummy
    Tiggermummy Posts: 312 Member
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    If you go to this website it might answer some of your questions

    http://www.paralympics.org.uk/about-us/faqs
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    I was having a think about the concept of the Paralympics today. By having this event after the Olympics and not at the same time as just further highlights a society where disability is marginalized from mainstream society.

    Or maybe it has something to do with ratings or possibly the size of total participants, and not some human psycho-analyticall theory.

    Chill man I'm sure NBC isn't trying to keep Timmy down by hosting his Olympics on a different week.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,250 Member
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    I was having a think about the concept of the Paralympics today. By having this event after the Olympics and not at the same time as just further highlights a society where disability is marginalised from mainstream society. I know it would be difficult to host the extra events but I don't see why it would be a big deal to have the wheelchair races in with the full bodied ones. Lots of other examples can be thought of too. What do others think about this?

    It would be astronomically difficult to run both at the same time.

    Besides which the Paralympics are Games in their own right, with their own opening and closing ceremony and their own torch relay.

    The London 2012 Paralympics are reported to be the biggest selling Paralympics of all time, with tickets selling out.

    The Paralympics do not need the Olympic Games themselves to carry them, they do quite well on their own. I find it slightly condescending to be honest, when people consider the Para Games and people with disabilities to be not respected enough to include within able-bodied athletes' Olympic Games - they are doing just fine and don't need out partronising attitudes causing them to try and defend themselves.
  • Shizzman
    Shizzman Posts: 527 Member
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    I was having a think about the concept of the Paralympics today. By having this event after the Olympics and not at the same time as just further highlights a society where disability is marginalized from mainstream society.

    Or maybe it has something to do with ratings or possibly the size of total participants, and not some human psycho-analyticall theory.

    Chill man I'm sure NBC isn't trying to keep Timmy down by hosting his Olympics on a different week.

    TIMMAY!
  • feast4thebeast
    feast4thebeast Posts: 210 Member
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    It is the whole concept of an 'us' and 'them' approach. I know it would be extremely difficult to host both together but it is things like this that highlight the world's inability to really 'include'. Okay it is hard but not impossible therefore we should bring them together. I think it is more patronising and creates more of a 'poor souls' approach by having a different event for those with what are identified as difficulties. I would love to hear what the paralympic athletes views are as they matter more than ours.
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    It is the whole concept of an 'us' and 'them' approach.

    That is the entire Olympics, us vs china, us vs London. Guess we better cancel all sports all together.

    If there really was a problem of including others there wouldn't be an paralympics at all.
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    It is the whole concept of an 'us' and 'them' approach. I know it would be extremely difficult to host both together but it is things like this that highlight the world's inability to really 'include'. Okay it is hard but not impossible therefore we should bring them together. I think it is more patronising and creates more of a 'poor souls' approach by having a different event for those with what are identified as difficulties. I would love to hear what the paralympic athletes views are as they matter more than ours.

    Let's take it a step further and have the para-olympic athletes compete in the same events as the able bodied athletes. If we are going to be completely inclusive, this is a logical progression from your viewpoint.

    I think they work well as a stand alone event. Give these inspirational athletes a stage of their own.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I tend to agree with the OP. I don't have an issue with paralympians participating in the 'ordinary' games if they wish (a la Oscar). I do think that Joe Public likes to keep his 'special' athletes *special* and that disrupting the perception that people with disabilities belong somewhere *different* from the 'abled' bodied population is a good thing to do.

    There are particular facilities needed for some events in the paralympics. I'm not convinced that integration would be entirely impossible.

    I do think it's shameful that the paralympics dont get the same attention or interest. I do think that better integration (no gap or a much smaller gap in between) might help. But so too would securing equal TV coverage.

    I do feel very proud that the British Paralympic events will be better attended than any Paralympics in history. I'm also very excited that I'll be one of the spectators. Roll on 6 September and the T44 100m final! I can't wait to be there!
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I was having a think about the concept of the Paralympics today. By having this event after the Olympics and not at the same time as just further highlights a society where disability is marginalized from mainstream society.

    Or maybe it has something to do with ratings or possibly the size of total participants, and not some human psycho-analyticall theory.

    Chill man I'm sure NBC isn't trying to keep Timmy down by hosting his Olympics on a different week.

    If you see what I mean about Joe Public.... He isn't a subtle creature.
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    I tend to agree with the OP. I don't have an issue with paralympians participating in the 'ordinary' games if they wish (a la Oscar). I do think that Joe Public likes to keep his 'special' athletes *special* and that disrupting the perception that people with disabilities belong somewhere *different* from the 'abled' bodied population is a good thing to do.

    There are particular facilities needed for some events in the paralympics. I'm not convinced that integration would be entirely impossible.

    I do think it's shameful that the paralympics dont get the same attention or interest. I do think that better integration (no gap or a much smaller gap in between) might help. But so too would securing equal TV coverage.

    I do feel very proud that the British Paralympic events will be better attended than any Paralympics in history. I'm also very excited that I'll be one of the spectators. Roll on 6 September and the T44 100m final! I can't wait to be there!

    I think there are cases (such as Oscar Pistorious) who can compete with able-bodied Olympians and I'm sure Archery and Shooting are potentially also open to both able-bodied and disabled athletes. But there are some events such as wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball and partially-sighted football which are events in their own right and I think the Paralympics are just as inspirational as the Olympics if not more so.

    The UK is particularly strong in the Paralympics and I too am proud that the Paralympics has practically sold out on all events.

    It's also worth remembering that the IOC and the IPC are two separate bodies even though the current president of the IPC also sits on the IOC board. They now share the same venue and are held concurrently (and I believe the 2 week gap is to facilitate the additional organisation and facilities required for the Paralympians) and while they might not get as much publicity in some countries, that is perhaps more an indictment of their attitude to disability in general than to the Paralympic movement as a whole.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I agree with all that. I was angered though that the president of the IPC (or it might be been the BPC) suggested that Pistorius's desire to compete in the Olympics positioned the Paralympics as a 'second rate' game. I don't think it does that at all. It's possible, I think, to maintain the importance of enabling athletes to participate in the paralympics and for them to be important in their own right, without insisting on their separation from the olympics.
  • feast4thebeast
    feast4thebeast Posts: 210 Member
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    It is the whole concept of an 'us' and 'them' approach. I know it would be extremely difficult to host both together but it is things like this that highlight the world's inability to really 'include'. Okay it is hard but not impossible therefore we should bring them together. I think it is more patronising and creates more of a 'poor souls' approach by having a different event for those with what are identified as difficulties. I would love to hear what the paralympic athletes views are as they matter more than ours.

    Let's take it a step further and have the para-olympic athletes compete in the same events as the able bodied athletes. If we are going to be completely inclusive, this is a logical progression from your viewpoint.

    I think they work well as a stand alone event. Give these inspirational athletes a stage of their own.

    It may be one logical progression from my stance but not the only one. Given that you took that as logical progression shows your own assumptions about disability. It is attitudes that disable not the conditions that may restrict some athletes. Some athletes who are not `able-bodied` or think `neuro-typically` may not want to be part of a `special` stage or be viewed as inspirational because they do not conform to mainstream. If they were really that inspirational and not viewed with pity then they would be part of the real olympics. Then who is to say that the Olympics rather than the paralympics is the main event - just trying to think about this differently here not providing a definite solution or answer
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I know just what you mean. I love the 'superhumans' adverts in the UK, for the paralympics, on the one hand. On the other hand, it deeply troubles me, in the insistence that these athletes be seen as 'overcoming' their 'disability', as being somehow 'superspecial'. I do think that this in many senses entrenches the separation of those judged to be 'abled bodied' vs 'disabled' - when in reality, I think the boundaries around these apparently self-evident categories are more blurry than many would like to believe.

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