The Special Olympics

At what point did they stop being called the Paralympics?

Theoretically, there shouldn't be a need for separate sporting events for ppl with learning difficulties, should there? Having learning difficulties shouldn't prevent you from running as fast or jumping as high as someone who does not have the disability (unlike a physical disability, where the differences are obvious).

Even something as simple as running has technique to it which retards (which at one point was considered the "nice" word for them, but fuck it, all euphemisms for stupidity are doomed to failure) have trouble mastering.

When do these games start then? Arf arf....

Some years ago my mother was teaching at a special school for the severely mentally challenged (was that PC enough?). One of her students was a young woman about 22 years of age who bore a strange resemblance to Andre the Giant - very tall and very large and sweet-natured and always in an exhuberant mood.

Well, the National Special Olympics were held in L.A. that year and my mother took some of the students down to complete. There were the usually celebrity spokes-people at the event, including Richard Dean Anderson. At that time, MacGyver was *really* big. What my mother did n't know was that her student was a big fan of the show. When she saw RDA standing at a podium, giving some speech, she jumped from her seat in the bleaches and trucked down the stairs and out onto the field, where she lept up onto the dias, wrapped her arms around RDA, and spun around with him in his arms. Priceless. I'll have to go look for those photos.

Does anyone know any would be athletes who resent the existence of the Special Olympics? Is this the root of the Spanish team episode which Dave Q refers to?

I wouldn't watch the other olympics and I won't be watching this. The front cover of the Irish phonebook has a picture of a girl with down syndrome paddling a canoe with the ultra patronising caption "IT'S GOING TO TAKE A VERY SPECIAL EFFORT".

I suspect to some extent though that this is a total minefield and it's impossible not to sound patronising.

http://www.tardblog.com/

I am still processing these events and so have no insightful comments to make at this stage, apart from noticing that the Corrs have a great appeal to those with an intellectual disability.

This is not something we did not already know...

"And then I noticed one of my tards was writing with his pencil the wrong way around."

it's more boring than offensive.

unfortunately these games have highlighted the fact that in ireland it is still OK to laugh at disabled people. or worse, to assume that you know what is "patronizing" to them and what isn't (j0hn is also OTM here). in what way exactly are these games patronizing? is it less patronizing *not* to have any event at which these athletes can excel on their own terms and just shove them in a room somewhere? is the *real* problem that you'd rather disabled people kept out of sight so you wouldn't have to deal with your feelings towards them?

One of the reasons the Spanish basketball trhing occured was due to wheelchair basketball being a very good way to improve the socialisation and general skills of those who are temporarily paralysed (for whatever reason). If you get really good at it, and then you get "cured", then why should you be banned playing it (would we ban a no armed man from playing football? Well there aren't any are there?)

the answer is in the question (he got cured). it wouldn't be a "level playing field" as some of the competitors would have a physical advantage over their opponents (going against the whole motivation behind having a special olympics in the first place, surely?) i'm not sure where the "banning a no-armed man playing football" comparison fits in with this.

Say wheelchair shooting...

A non-disabled person in a wheelchair would have at least a slight advantage over a disabled person in a wheelchair because half his body wouldn't be just dead weight, and he could use his legs for balance and so forth.

>Say wheelchair shooting...

I don't know the rules of olympic shooting, but body position makes a huge difference in accuracy. The most accurate postition to shoot a rifle is lying down, for example.

Alternatively how about any wheelchair races, 100 metres to marathon. (I'll grant you a possible difference in shooting, possible). Equally I can't think of any reason why a deaf person couldnt compete as normal in any major athletics event.

I would imagine Frankie Muniz would play the kid.

Isn't balance supposed to be hugely affected by a total loss of hearing? or so i've been told. maybe there is a case for people who temprarily lost the use of their legs (but have since recovered) to still be able to compete, but it seems a little unfair that a fully healthy, perfectly functioning person would want to take part in the special olympics.

no-one was objecting to "being made aware of" the existence of the disabled. people are complaining about the tone of the media coverage: it's treating the games more like kids playing football in the schoolyard than a serious sporting event. prior to wimbledon, people talk about who will be expecting to perform well, and who's in good form at the moment. prior to the special olympics, the coverage seems to take the "everyone's a winner! it's great to see them enjoying themselves!" line. no-one is suggesting that the games are a bad thing, or that they be abolished because of this - just that it should be treated more like a serious sporting event.

"how is the media coverage of the special olympics at odds with the intentions of the special olympics?"

i said that the coverage of the special olympics contrasted with the coverage of other sporting events in a way that might appear patronising. i don't recall saying that it contrasted with "the intentions of the special olympics".

haha! "c'mon kilian! we all know these events are as unimportant as charity walks! Why scrutinise?"

yes! no-one should take the special olympics as seriously as tournaments where people have full use of their limbs! let's not let them get ideas above their station!

*head explodes*

it really is time for bed...

I remember when sport was fun.

2) The Special Olympics are not about abstract ideas of perfection in sport/physical culture the way the World Cup or the Olympics are, so to expect the media to focus on individual athletes and their physical form/ability, in the way some posters here suggest would bring the games in line with what they deem to be "serious" sporting events, is missing the point somewhat.

treated seriously - as in acknowledging that people competing in the special olympics are athletes as committed to winning/performing well as anyone at the world cup/wimbledon/olympics.

Kilian, where is this not being acknowledged? Living in Dublin I'm getting much the same media feed as you, and I have seen no evidence of this so far -- see point 1) above.

Pete - the athletes in the special olympics are being put in competition against each other in the same way they would be at any other sporting event (under similarly strict rules and guidelines). i don't see why special olympians should care less about actually winning than the other Olympians. the notion that you can dictate how seriously disabled people should be taking their sport is just so...patently...ridiculous. if a lot of special olympians go into the competition with an "everyone is a winner" attitude that is great, and it is their entitlement, but there seems to be a feeling on this thread that anyone acknowledging the fact that a lot of the athletes may be committed to winning/performing well, are being malicious about the tournament itself.

i'm not for a minute suggesting that the fun should be sucked out of the special olympics - or even that the special olympians *should* be taking their sport very seriously.