Mediaboss Marketing

I've seen several articles complaining that rather than being a celebration of the human spirit there's a danger the Paralympics may reinforce old prejudices about the disabled.

The excellent blogger Lisa Egan, who describes herself as a "speccy, disabled gay Essex girl," who failed to become a Paralympian swimmer, wrote in The Independent that "the use of the word 'inspirational' triggered my gag reflex . . . Inspirational, overcoming, against the odds, suffers from, brave and other such nonsense are spewing forth from the mouths of anyone allowed near a microphone. While many of us are glued to the telly wanting to see some amazing sport, there are some who are only watching because they want the gory details about how the athletes acquired their impairments."

And the comedian Lawrence Clark, who has cerebral palsy, has also warned against condescension. "What about those athletes who come last? Or the ones who didn't qualify in the first place. Surely they can't all be inspiring."

I have to admit that comments like these gave me pause. Because it was pretty likely that any column piece by me on the Paralympics would include the 'I' word. It just seemed the best way to describe someone like Mark Rohan, the former Westmeath under 21 footballer who is a world champion in the handcycling event and one of Ireland's gold medal hopes in London. Rohan took up disabled sport after being paralysed from the chest down in an horrific road accident 11 years ago.

And there I am, mentioning his injuries. Committing one of the sins of media coverage. At first I was inclined to think the views of disabled people venting their frustration at what they perceive as the condescension underlying the media attitude to the games are a bit harsh. Isn't it good to see so much Paralympic coverage even if it's not done the way you'd like? Which is a pretty patronising attitude to take.

And I'll have to admit that it's easy, while watching the Paralympics, to start congratulating yourself for making the effort and feel bathed in a warm glow of self-righteousness. This is the kind of attitude which annoys the likes of Egan and Clark so much. And they're right. Because there's no point in the Paralympics resulting in the replacement of one set of stereotypes with another.

Personally, I would agree with the view of Channel 4 Paralympics presenter Alex Brooker that "we'll see athletes with incredible stories behind their achievements, and it is not necessarily patronising to celebrate that."

And I think some of the complaints regarding press coverage miss the fact that sports pages and shows revel in the inspirational and the heart-warming, whether it's an Olympic Games, a World Cup or a Paralympics. We're not going to focus on wider disability issues because that's not what we do. But it's no harm to be reminded of them.

Ten years ago, I went to a wheelchair basketball match in Limerick. In the opening stages I focused on the wheelchairs and the differing degrees of mobility enjoyed by the players. But as the game went on I became fascinated by the contest and the levels of skill and physicality involved. I don't mean that the players were very good considering they were in wheelchairs, I mean the game was extremely exciting.

By the closing stages, it had become just one more sporting contest I'd got wrapped up in. The wheelchairs, and this may sound odd, seemed somehow incidental to the thing.

Continue reading here:
Media find it hard to ignore 'I' word