Disability and Sports Blog

                                                                                                                        Paralympic baton passes to London Dr. Ludwig Guttman is a man who is often mentioned when discussing the Paralympics. He is commonly known for his role in creating the Paralympics before it became official. While the Summer Olympics were being held in 1948, he organized the “Stoke Mandeville Games”   which has evolved into the Paralympics we know today. These games were originally created for disabled veterans. At the time, they were using sports as a type of rehabilitation for the wounded and injured veterans...

According to the Oxford dictionary, inspiration can be defined as, "the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative." Typically, people are inspired by emotional stories of individuals overcoming something that seems impossible. More often than not, people with disabilities are used as examples of inspiration. However, most disabled people do not enjoy being put in that role.  TED Talk speaker Stella Young discusses how calling disabled people an inspiration is objectifying. She even titled her talk "I'm Not Your Inspiration."  Watching Stella Young share her thoughts on disabled people being used for “inspiration porn” definitely resonated with me. My immediate reaction was to share with my family. I thought my sister and mother would appreciate her humor when talking about the subject. Not only did I think they would enjoy her jokes, but I also felt like we have a deeper connection to the topic.  All my li...