The Paralympic Games: Separate but Equal?

by Amanda Leibovitz

(edited by Alexandra Tapak)

The United States of America (USA) Paralympic Sled Hockey team skated their way to gold in Sochi, Russia last Saturday, becoming the first sled hockey team in Paralympic history to win back-to-back gold medals (Public Broadcasting Service, 2014).  In another historic event, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and National Broadcasting Company Sports News (NBCSN) aired a record-breaking 52 hours of coverage for the Sochi Paralympic Games in 2014, including six sled hockey games (International Paralympic Committee, IPC, 2014).  Compared to the five and a half hours of NBC's airtime dedicated to the London Paralympic Games in 2012, this appears to be a drastic improvement and step in the right direction (Sherman, 2012).  However, when measured against the over 5,000 hours NBC and NBCS dedicated to the London Olympic Games, it falls shamefully short of equality (Sherman, 2012).

The lack of prior television coverage of the Paralympic Games in the United States is indicative of the social assumption that people with disabilities are deficient or “less than” when compared to the rest of the able-bodied population (Sue & Sue, 2013).  But what does this mean in the world of sport and exercise psychology?  The rise in visibility in news and popular media reflects the increasing participation in adaptive sport in the United States and the growing number of athletes competing at the elite level (IPC, 2014). A staggering 692 athletes from around the world competed in Sochi, nearly a 38% increase from the Vancouver Paralympic Games in 2010 (United States Olympic Committee, 2014).

What does the word “paralympic” actually mean?  Originally signifying paraplegic competitors, the inclusion of more disability categories has transformed the prefix “para” into its original Greek meaning of “parallel” (Kell, Kell, & Price, 2008).  Therefore, while the Paralympics is an event run in parallel with the Olympics, the “separate but equal” (Smithsonian, 2014) undertones should not be ignored, but rather actively examined and investigated.

According to Kell et al. (2008), “The reality of parallelism is that no matter how good the performance of a disabled athlete, he/she can never compete in the Olympic games seeking special consideration, such as special equipment, support, or facilities” (p. 68).  To that note, Kell et al. (2008) propose that inclusion will not be possible until all athletes can compete in the same events on the same teams, regardless of their disability or able-bodied status.  Furthermore, the right to equal training, facilities, coaching, funding, and media coverage is inherent in this definition of inclusion (Kell et al., 2008).

However, this notion may be more idealistic than realistic considering the complexity of the issue.  Nixon II (2000) cautions that the integration of able-bodied athletes and athletes with disabilities might favor athletes with minimal disabilities and effectively squeeze out athletes with more substantial disabilities from elite competition.

While this debate is only the tip of the iceberg, it does illuminate some of the challenges faced by elite athletes with disabilities as they strive to achieve physical and athletic excellence and recognition through sport.  Responsible practitioners will familiarize themselves with the rules, regulations, and classification system of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to become competent in understanding the system within which the athlete functions (Sue & Sue, 2013).  They will also recognize that the athlete sought out sport psychology services for reasons other than their disability and will conduct a full mental skills assessment to determine the precise nature of the presenting issue (Sue & Sue, 2013).  Finally, the environmental, organizational, and systemic contributions to the athlete’s presenting issue will be identified and integrated into a psychological skills training program as needed (Sue & Sue, 2013).

References

International Paralympic Committee (2014). NBC announces Sochi 2014 Paralympics schedule [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.paralympic.org/news/nbc-announces-sochi-2014-paralympics-schedule

Kell, P., Kell, M., & Price, N. (2008). Two games and one movement? The Paralympics and the Olympic movement. In P. Kell, W. Vialle, D. Konza, & G. Vogl (Eds), Learning and the learner: Exploring learning for new times. Retrieved fromhttp://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=edupapers

Nixon II, H. L. (2000). Sport and disability. In J. Coakley, & E. Dunning (Eds.), Handbook of sports studies (pp. 422-438). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781848608382

Public Broadcasting Service. (2014). Ice warrieors [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/medal-quest/ice-warriors/#game-5-recap

Sherman, A. (2012). NBC criticized for limited airtime of Paralympic games [Online News Article]. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-31/nbc-criticized-for-limited-airtime-of-paralympic-games.html

Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History. (2014). Separate but equal: The law of the land [Website]. Retrieved from http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/separate-but-equal.html

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

United States Olympic Committee. (2014). Sochi 2014 [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.teamusa.org/paralympicgames/