Try not to Consume them as the Inspiration Porn ---Therefore I will continue to say the Paralympics 2021 should have been cancelled
The Games have just begun amid Tokyo's fifth surge of the epidemic
The Paralympic Games Tokyo 2021 have just started last Monday amid Tokyo’s fifth wave of the epidemic. Up to now there have been more than 240 positive cases among the persons involved in the Games including one athlete hospitalized. Meanwhile as the number of the positive cases is surging, the hospital beds are full. The number of those who can’t reach the hospital bed is increasing to 32k in Tokyo. The calls for the ambulance are also rising but the paramedics are struggling to find a bed for the callers. It is reported that even the younger people without any underlying condition also died, in some cases of them at home without any medical treatments. All of those tough situations due to the Delta variant which is so rapid to spread in the aerosol transmission and so drastic to worsen the disease.
Why do people feel awkward about being against the Paralympics?
I realized that the opposition voices to the Paralympics were toned down compared to the Olympics on the SNS. Some journalists, who were against the Olympics, said that they wanted to let the Paralympics take place for the paralympians because they had prepared and practiced so hard for the games. Why do people feel like that? Why is it difficult to say that the Paralympics should be cancelled?
I think there are some unequal views in non-handicapped people’s mind toward people with handicaps: The disabled and handicapped people should be always treated with pity or special allowance.
The Tokyo Governor Koike has insisted that she should invite the students to watch the games from the stand
The Tokyo Governor Koike has been saying that the students in Kanto area should come to the venue of the game to watch it. In spite a lot of concerns about the infection came out of everywhere, she didn’t withdraw the request to the municipalities. The reason of her insistence is that watching the para-sports gives a good opportunity to understand the society for coexisting both the handicapped and the no-handicapped. She has been emphasizing such an educational value, however, most of the municipal boards of education decided to cancel the watch project, only a few accepted. According to the original plan, more than 800k students would have watched some of the games, though actually the number of them has reduced to 30k.
A few days ago, it was found out that one junior high school in Chiba City had multiple positive cases of the coronavirus among its teachers. It was the next day of the day when they brought the students to watch the game by bus. More than 150 students have to get tested and quarantined.
Whether do we see the Paralympic Games as objects of the inspiration porn?
The para-sports are great. Wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball and 100m sprint of prosthetic legged competitors are amazing. The para-athletes perform with their utmost skills and both in physical and mental strength that they have been training for a long time. On the other hand, it is also true that not all handicapped people can enjoy sports and the paralympians are so called ‘the elites’ of them.
However, I wonder whether or not we see them as the objects of inspiration porn and also whether or not we use them as tools for giving lessons to the non-handicapped people: Look at them. Even those who have handicaps show excellent performances, YOU (without handicaps) have to do something more. Their achievements with such hard work move and inspire you, don’t they?
Cynically I would say that non-disabled people may subconsciously consume the para-sports and the existence of the para-athletes in such contexts. Tokyo Governor’s idea of the invitation of the students also proves that. I don’t believe that just one time of watching the para-sports event makes the students understand the importance of coexistence in societies, even amid the epidemic of life-threatening infectious disease.
To keep fairness and equity in our mind we have to question ourselves
How many of us are aware of that dissymmetry? Why is it said to *LET* the Paralympic Games happen? Why are handicapped people’s achievements so exaggerated? Do we consume them as inspiration porn or as boosters for ourselves? We have to ask ourselves such questions until Japanese communities are more inclusive and integrated for people with all features and backgrounds.
That’s why I will keep on saying without any hesitancy that the Paralympics should have been cancelled.