A person's humanity lies in their spirit and not their body.
Invisible discrimination is very real; troops injured during combat often had to fight against this sort of prejudice and the first serious attempts to make public places accessible started after the First World War.
Helen Henderson
The Toronto Star, Aug. 23, 2008
Tomorrow's ceremony closing the Beijing Olympics will no doubt be another
display of spectacular entertainment. Flawless, if the opening performance
is any indication. But I'm not really into flawless.
Yes, I know all about Hollywood and body doubles and what sells. I know that
wasn't really Kevin Costner's bare backside in the movie Robin Hood and I
know most of the world couldn't care less. But this isn't just about digitally enhanced displays of light and a little girl lip-synching China's "Ode to the Motherland."
It's about a culture of exclusion, a false hierarchy built on ignorance. And it's about why the Paralympics, due to start two weeks from today, never get the same attention as the so-called main event that precedes them.
China is by no means alone in harbouring an ugly "us/them" attitude. Beijing officials were eager to tell the world that parts of the Great Wall and the
Forbidden City would be accessible to wheelchairs for the first time this
year. But the barriers erected by closed minds were very much in evidence in
the run- up to the games.
Back in May, disability groups around the world expressed outrage following
the release of the official guide. distributed to 100,000 volunteers training to help out at Olympic events.
As reported by Ashling O'Connor, Olympics correspondent for The Times of London, the guide led off its section on disabled people by saying:
"Paralympic athletes and disabled spectators are a special group. They have unique personalities and ways of thinking."
By way of explanation, the guide. continued: "Some physically disabled are
isolated, unsocial and introspective. They can be stubborn and controlling ... defensive and have a strong sense of inferiority."
Other pearls from the guide, which was hastily withdrawn with apologies from
Beijing officials, included:
"Physically disabled people are often mentally healthy. They show no
differences in sensation, reaction, memorization and thinking mechanism from other people, but they might have unusual personalities because of
disfigurement and disability."
"When you make eye contact, do not fuss or show unusual curiosity. Never
stare at their disfigurement."
"A patronizing or condescending attitude will be easily sensed, even for a brain-damaged patient."
The "optically disabled (are) introverted. They seldom show strong emotions."
Lest you write off such language as unique to countries where disabled
people are still for the most part hidden, consider a Nike ad published eight years ago in magazines throughout North America. The ad, for which Nike subsequently apologized, read, in part: "You're probably asking yourself, 'How can a trail running shoe ... help me avoid compressing my spinal cord into a Slinky on the side of some unsuspecting conifer, thereby rendering me a drooling, misshapen non-extreme-trail-running husk of my former self, forced to roam
the earth in a motorized wheelchair ...?'"
Presumably, the trail running shoe in question was flawless and would, by
extension, confer perfection on those who wore it.
This year, some 4,000 athletes from around the world are gearing up for the
Beijing Paralympics, among them Chinese fencer Jin Jing, who made headlines
in April when a demonstrator tried unsuccessfully to wrest the Olympic torch from her during the Paris lap of the relay to Beijing.
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
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