{"id":95217,"date":"2024-08-29T16:25:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T20:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=95217"},"modified":"2024-08-29T16:25:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T20:25:13","slug":"absence-of-special-olympics-from-2024-paris-games-illustrates-ableism-in-sport-brock-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/08\/absence-of-special-olympics-from-2024-paris-games-illustrates-ableism-in-sport-brock-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Absence of Special Olympics from 2024 Paris Games illustrates ableism in sport: Brock expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Jennifer Mooradian (MA \u201922), the disconnect between the Special Olympics and the Paralympic and Olympic Games speaks volumes.<\/p>\n

It is a \u201cprime example that ableism is still very present in sport,\u201d says the Brock University Applied Health Sciences PhD candidate.<\/p>\n

Although the International Olympic Committee recognizes all three organizations, the Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year nor at the same place as the Olympics and Paralympics. While the Paralympics are now underway in Paris, on the heels of the Olympics, the most recent Special Olympics Summer Games took place last year in Berlin, Germany.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/a>

Jennifer Mooradian (MA \u201922), Brock University Applied Health Sciences PhD candidate.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mooradian, whose research explores self-representation in Special Olympics athletes<\/a>, says although great progress has been made to \u201clegitimize\u201d the Paralympics and its elite international athletes with physical disabilities, the intellectually and cognitively disabled people involved with the Special Olympics continue to be \u201ctaken less seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says there is an unfortunate hierarchy of sport: able-bodied athletes are at the top, followed by athletes with physical disabilities, then those with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more closely a disabled individual can approximate to so-called \u2018normal,\u2019 the more legitimate they\u2019re seen to be,\u201d says Mooradian.<\/p>\n

Many people associate the Special Olympics with its longtime focus on inclusiveness. While this treats sport as the human fundamental right it is \u2014 by including everyone no matter their ability \u2014 it also inadvertently defines sport as either competitive at an elite, high-performing level or as recreational or participatory, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think the Special Olympics isn\u2019t real sport because it\u2019s inclusive, but why can\u2019t all sport be inclusive?\u201d she says. \u201cWe could offer sport on a spectrum where people can engage how they want with who they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mooradian acknowledges a fully inclusive Olympic Games may not happen in her lifetime, she thinks it is reasonable to align the timing of the Special Olympic World Games with the Paralympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Special Olympics aren\u2019t on anyone\u2019s radar because it sits way over there in another space,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do we assume these athletes don\u2019t have the desire or ability to compete? An athlete\u2019s desire to compete is not lessened because of their intellectual and cognitive disability,\u201d she says. \u201cDoes it look a bit different? Yes. Are their times slower? For sure, but they can still compete. It is our ableist views about sport, not their disability, that is preventing them from competing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Jennifer Mooradian (MA \u201922), the disconnect between the Special Olympics and the Paralympic and Olympic Games speaks volumes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":95218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,188,55,1],"tags":[28,13789,2085,7488,12849,5541,5505,1688,3330,307,381,1874,5196,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95220,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95217\/revisions\/95220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}