Media Coverage on the Paralympics

     

     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 are portrayed also needs to shift. The current media coverage mostly falls into three harmful stereotypes: the “villain,” the “supercrip,” or the “helpless victim.” The “supercrip” narrative arguably the most common, frames athletes primarily as inspirational figures who “overcame” their disabilities just to compete. While these stories may seem positive at first, they subtly suggest that disability itself is tragic and that success is surprising. This shifts the focus away from athleticism, strategy, rivalry, and skill which are the very elements that make sports compelling. Overall, the current narrative that the media uses is quite harmful to disabled athletes as well as the sporting events they participate in such as the Paralympics.

     I think the way media professionals can avoid this narrative is by adopting a social-model perspective of disability. This model would emphasize societal barriers rather than treating disability as a personal defect. Instead of dramatic background music and emotional storytelling that centers on hardship, coverage could highlight training regimens, competitive statistics, team dynamics, and tactical decisions. In other words, what I am trying to say is that the media should report on Paralympic athletes the same way journalists cover Olympic athletes.

     Another change I would add is increasing representation behind the scenes for disabled sporting events. What I mean by that is having people with disabilities work as commentators, producers, journalists, and analysts, the storytelling naturally becomes more authentic and less stereotyped. This I believe would fix how the media on disabled sporting events is portrayed (Figure 2).

(Figure 2: The ratings from the Paris 2024 Paralympics)

     In conclusion, I believe the changes I talked about in the blog such as more media coverage and getting rid of the common "supercrip" portrayal of the athletes, would greatly increase the rates for the Paralympics and disabled sports as a whole. Furthermore, implementing more representation of the disabled community in the media would also change the stories being produced by the news. Thank you all again for tuning into this week's blog post and stay tuned for next week's post!

References

https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/styles/amp_metadata_content_image_min_696px_wide/public/2025-04/Paris%202024%20global%20coverage.webp

https://www.primeapi.com/cmscdn/cdn/cms/SC/olympics_vs_paralympics_media_coverage_15c60c2748.jpg