The Paralympics took place in Rio this year, from September 7 to 18 -- shortly after the Olympics finished. To be completely honest, I hardly paid attention to them. I followed the Olympics on Facebook, so I shared and liked a few posts here and there. But that was it.
On the other hand, I watched Usain Bolt as he went for his “Triple Treble” and Simone Biles doing “The Biles” in an almost religious fanaticism. I watched Mo Farah take home two gold medals for the 5k and the 10k and was in awe of his endurance. I watched Ashton Eaton as he maintained his own world record in the decathlon. I stared, wide-eyed, at my phone as I watched reruns of Katie Ledecky doing the freestyle, etc. The point is this: I watched the Olympics. But where was I for the Paralympics?
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Sure, part of it was school: I was inundated with assignments; I was consumed with work. But I know myself: when I care about something, when I am deeply interested, I cannot get it off my mind. I know I would have taken every spare moment -- on my way to class, during my commute or waiting for the professor to arrive -- to look up who won what during the multitude of events. But I didn’t do that.
Turns out, I’m not the only one, and it might not be entirely my fault either. Despite increased viewership, coverage of the Paralympics is slim to nothing compared to the Olympics. This year, even though the latter followed the Olympics by a little over two weeks, the former received over 6000 hours of NBC coverage, while the Paralympics received only 66 hours total. Not to mention that ESPN’s major sports channel did not cover the Paralympics at all. A total of 5488 articles were written about the Olympics by the same 300 newspapers. But how many are there about the Paralympics?
So it’s not entirely my fault. When media conglomerates and coastal platforms make editorial decisions to steer clear of the Paralympics, they are also making another decision that I think is enormously hurtful to those who are physically disabled. They are saying that the efforts of such people are not worthy of the same level of attention and recognition as those of able-bodied individuals.
There is a cyclical argument being made: CEOs and top editorial staff members make decisions based on “what they think” the mainstream audience wants. And because the mainstream audience doesn’t know as much as it could about the Paralympics, it never recognizes whether or not they are worthwhile. And so the head honchos and their assumptions are confirmed without actually being accessed. We, as the recipients of these decisions, can never know what we don’t know.
I also believe there is another factor involved in watching disabled individuals competing athletically. There is a level of inspiration felt on our part that borders on offensive pity. There is a great TED Talk by Stella Young where she examines the ways in which able-bodied people tend to view disabled people as objects of inspiration. People who are amazing for doing what anyone who doesn’t have their disability does with ease. In being inspired by a disabled person, we are objectifying them. We are seeing them as an extension of our project of self-fulfillment. Wow, look at them. I wish I could be that dedicated, strong, etc … I really need to be more grateful for everything that I have. I take so much for granted.
That’s usually the thought process we undergo whenever we bear witness to the efforts of folks with disability. And it’s not right. It stems from our privileges as able-bodied people. Disabled people are not a tool to help us uphold our gratitude.
I know that I was awe-struck by the efforts of the parathletes I paid attention to. But every time, I had to check myself. They are not a sounding board for my self-gratifying project.
The prejudices of pity, coupled with the profoundly low coverage of the Paralympics are two main reasons why so many didn’t watch them -- or at least pay attention to them in the way that the Olympics were recognized. In the future, the Paralympics should be broadcast live at the same level as the Olympics. We should all continue to check ourselves as we watch disabled athletes participating in the events we applaud for able-bodied people.
