Unstoppable Spirit

           Welcome readers to this week's blog post, the topic for this week is all about how to increase the media coverage of the Paralympics. As well as addressing the issue of disabled athletes being portrayed by the media as “villains, supercrips, or helpless.”      I believe the first major step forward would be guaranteeing consistent live coverage, athlete features focused on performance, and year-round reporting not just attention every two years (Figure 1). This would also include advertisements that are separate from the Olympics, the current advertisements seem to put the Paralympics as a second thought to the Olympics. Or that the Paralympics is just an extension to the Olympics, even though it is its own event. (Figure 1: The difference of online article between the Olympics and Paralympics)      However, I do not think increasing airtime alone would be enough. The way athletes with disabilities...

      Hello and welcome readers to my blog, this week we have another exciting and thought-provoking topic. I will be discussing whether or not adaptive technology should be allowed in sports as well as if this technology affects athletes from disadvantaged nations who cannot afford it. Furthermore, to around out this week's blog, I will address if this adaptive technology should be allowed in able-bodied sporting events.       First, I want to say that I do believe adaptive technology should be allowed in sports, I would like to think it promotes inclusion and opportunity. For example, the prosthetic running blade is a replacement for a biological leg and enables basic motor function, which to me does not seem like any kind of bonus feature promoting a competitive advantage (Figure 1). Although, on the other hand denying this sort of adaptive technology would exclude athletes with limb differences from competing at all. With this framework in mind, I ...

      Hello all of you beautiful readers out there, welcome back my loyal readers. As well as if this is your first time on my blog, thank you for tuning in we have a great topic for this week. The main topic for this week's blog is going to be on if I agree or disagree with Dr. Guttman on that the Paralympics adhere to the Olympics maxim better than the Olympics Games. First, before I can say if I agree or disagree with Dr. Guttman, I must lay out what the maxim of the Olympics Games is from the founder Pierre de Coubertin (Figure 1). The original maxim states "the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well," (Topend, 2026). Figure 1: Image of Pierre de Coubertin       Now that the ideals of the Olympics Games have been laid out, I can go ahead on discussing my opinions on whether or not I agree with Dr. Guttman. Yes, I believe that the Paralympics are more clo...

      Hello and welcome back my blog all of you readers out there. The topics on the agenda this week are my original thoughts on what the term "para" meant in the word Paralympics. As well as what I have learned this week on the concept of the "parallel games."       Starting with the term "para" in the word Paralympics, I thought it was short for paraplegic. My thought process was that the word Paralympics was a combination of the shorten term "para" from the word paraplegic and Olympics. After reading this week's chapter on the Paralympics, I asked some of my friends and family members what they thought "para" in Paralympics meant. What I found out was I was definitely not alone on the misconception that "para" is not short for paraplegic. According to the article, we were not too far off especially because early on "para" truly did mean paraplegic (Hardin, R., & Pate, J. R., 2024). Although, overtime that...