What Have the Paralympics Achieved for Disabled Persons Human Rights?
What have the Paralympic Games achieved for Disabled peoples Human Rights?
Introduction.
In this essay I will look at the impact the Paralympic Games have had on the human rights of disabled people in specific relation to sport and maintain that whilst there have been significant improvements to the lives of disabled people since the Human Rights Act 1998 what has had the greatest impact on the lives of disabled people and their participation in sport has been the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (UNCRDP). All to frequently disabled people although assigned the same rights as non-disabled peopled find themselves outside the framework of the Human Rights Act; nowhere more clearly than in the area of sport. This situation is highlighted perfectly in an extract by Linda Mastandrea of the International Paralympic Committee
“Born with cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, I grew up sitting on the sidelines watching children play in PE class. I went to the library or study hall. I got to be the team manager, not a player on the team. Unquestionably, this treatment cemented my status as “different”, an “outsider” and someone who could not quite fit in.” Mastandrea(2007 p39).
The Paralympic Games 2012 have shone a light on the excellence that disabled people are able to attain in the area of sport at elite level and have made prominent the discourse around ability and disability. The Games and associated village have also shown a utopian reality of inclusion and accessibility for all when money, staff and motivation are no object, (Evenbreak 2012) the reality is a starkly different one. However I believe that where the attention needs to be focused is not the Paralympics but the community sports where people with disability either physical or intellectual face exclusion, discrimination and barriers when it comes to accessing sport in their local community.
Legal Framework
Before I begin a condensed summary of the impact of
Introduction.
In this essay I will look at the impact the Paralympic Games have had on the human rights of disabled people in specific relation to sport and maintain that whilst there have been significant improvements to the lives of disabled people since the Human Rights Act 1998 what has had the greatest impact on the lives of disabled people and their participation in sport has been the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (UNCRDP). All to frequently disabled people although assigned the same rights as non-disabled peopled find themselves outside the framework of the Human Rights Act; nowhere more clearly than in the area of sport. This situation is highlighted perfectly in an extract by Linda Mastandrea of the International Paralympic Committee
“Born with cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, I grew up sitting on the sidelines watching children play in PE class. I went to the library or study hall. I got to be the team manager, not a player on the team. Unquestionably, this treatment cemented my status as “different”, an “outsider” and someone who could not quite fit in.” Mastandrea(2007 p39).
The Paralympic Games 2012 have shone a light on the excellence that disabled people are able to attain in the area of sport at elite level and have made prominent the discourse around ability and disability. The Games and associated village have also shown a utopian reality of inclusion and accessibility for all when money, staff and motivation are no object, (Evenbreak 2012) the reality is a starkly different one. However I believe that where the attention needs to be focused is not the Paralympics but the community sports where people with disability either physical or intellectual face exclusion, discrimination and barriers when it comes to accessing sport in their local community.
Legal Framework
Before I begin a condensed summary of the impact of