According to the BBC, a year on from the opening of the Paralynpic Games, attitudes and provision for the disabled have not improved and in some cases have worsened. Someone said to me last year that I had no excuse not to get out and start charging around in a wheelchair, racing or playing basketball. Another fine example of the gross misinterpretation of that well abused term “disabled”. I don’t expect many more people to make the effort to genuinely understand the real impact of neurological fatigue or any other such symptom of MS. Hey Ho. Good wishes everyone.
I find it difficult to understand how people can define their legacy before they have actually started doing, they had long discussions on the ‘legacy’ before the olympics/paralympics even started!..or maybe thaat was 2012? (which was very funny!) Just seems to be another buzz word.
I agreed with some of the comments in the BBC’s “Have Your Say” section of the article. How many Paralympians would even score as disabled, according to ATOS, and in a perverse kind of way, isn’t the whole thing about trying to show they’re “not really disabled”?
But most disabled people have no more chance of fame and glory in the Paralympics than a random able-bodied person has of competing against Usain Bolt.;
I’m not sure it doesn’t send out a bit of a garbled message, that “anyone with disability can achieve amazing things”, while at the same time, the vast majority of us are still arguing we DO need extra help and support to achieve things everyone else takes for granted.
Isn’t it a bit of an own goal to have the British public thinking we could all be Paralympians if we only tried?
Tina
Well said Tina. For most MSers, everyday needs an olympian effort. The fact that we bother to get on with things merits the much over used word amazing. Good wishes. Steve