Monday, February 18, 2013
Wesley Hall - Disabled Female Athletes
After reading the article about disabled female athlletes, I tried to empathize and understand where they were coming from as much as I could. Basically, disabled athletes get little attention and female disabled athletes get even less attention. They just want to be treated as normal athletes and not as inspirational super humans.
I do have a few concerns though. So they all play wheelchair basketball but it said that the researcher was able-bodied and there were two women interviewed that taught classes in things like aerobics and jogging. This is confusing or I just read it incorrectly. Either they are able bodied and playing wheelchair basketball (which is wrong in my opinion) or they are disbaled in some way that was not specified. They should have been more clear on that.
They said that even disability magazines cover women in a negative way. I think that they should portray them in more of a positive light but not superhuman. They are all upset about the small amount of exposure that disability sports get. However, they said that they knew some of the athletes in the magazines personally. This sounds harsh but since they want to be treated normally, the market is very small, why would ESPN or SI even bother covering it?
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Wes,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this study I read the same thing you did as to the researcher being an able-bodied athlete that is participating in a wheelchair basketball association. I guess the point was to see from the disabled athlete's level in order to do the study, which is kind of different. When we talked about what we see the media portraying people with disabilities as is almost always something inspirational but to me it sounds like these athletes do not want sympathy and just want to be like everyone else without extra attention.
-Jeff Kravetz
Wes,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and your post. First, I would find it really hard to believe that the able bodied athletes would be participating in wheelchair basketball. I would not agree with that happening if I were in charge. I believe that in that case it would kind of be mocking the sport by allowing able bodied people to participate. I also think that the disabled women should be portrayed in a more positive light. I give them a ton of credit for trying and not giving up and believe that they should be treated as normal human beings.
-Logan Walker
Wes,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post to a point. The part I agree with is about that they should portray them in more of a positive light but not superhuman. No one wants to be looked at as a victom or a special case. They want to be know for their talent instead of their disability. However, I feel that if females with disabilities that are abled bodied want to play wheel chair basketball they should be allowed. The reason I say this is becasue they are following the same rules as the other that actually can't walk. They are all playing becasue it's their passion and becasue they love the game.
-Darion Delaney