{"id":1211,"date":"2012-09-10T21:46:57","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T20:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/londonerfromafar.wordpress.com\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2020-05-24T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T16:10:51","slug":"watching-the-super-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/watching-the-super-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching the `Super Humans\u00b4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching some of the athletics sessions at the\u00a0Paralympics at the Olympic Park last week\"Paralympics<\/a> was a\u00a0humbling experience. I couldn\u00b4t make it to the Olympics, so I had to make it to the Paralympics and watch the `super humans\u00b4in action<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I think that the whole thing has done a\u00a0lot to change our perception<\/strong> of disability, with the help of what seems to be\u00a0an\u00a0effective marketing campaign. In fact, there has been plenty of publicity\u00a0about the Paralympics in London\u00a0to raise awareness of the whole event, especially over the past few months. There is a good and short video at the bottom of this entry where you can see some of this advertising – quite cool a promo.<\/p>\n

It may be true that one of the main motivations is money. Hosting the Summer Olympics also involves hosting the Paralympics, which I\u00b4m guessing must not be particularly cheap. The organisation probably needs to make\u00a0some extra arrangements\u00a0to the usual logistics too, such as especialist teams to oversee the athletes\u00b4 unusual\u00a0equipment.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, \u00a0times do change for the better<\/strong> sometimes. I know a bit about\u00a0living with a disability, as someone close to me had one when I was\u00a0little. Back then, the\u00a0lack of knowledge and negative perceptions were pretty much the reason why there was hardly any help and funds to make their\u00a0lives and their carers\u00b4 easier.<\/p>\n

At the event, I do not think many of us in the audience thought of them as being incapable\u00a0\u00a0or not\u00a0normal<\/em>.\u00a0The competitions were quite exciting.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a>\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a>
\nWe cheered them as much as people cheered the other athletes. What they\u00a0did was awesome – how fast they could run\u00a0without stumbling,\u00a0<\/span>blind as some of them were, or jump with only one\u00a0leg without hurting themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

This does not mean that the non-disabled athletes didn\u00b4t do brilliantly. In\u00a0my own experience, the same athletics\u00a0disciplines for non-disabled people are quite hard at a competitive\u00a0level. Think about our regular gym classes and how hard they can be for the rest of us sometimes.<\/p>\n

Technology is also here to help change perceptions. <\/span>I could see in person some of the equipment that I had seen in pictures. Rather impressive b<\/span>lades and whee<\/span>lchairs, which they moved using on<\/span>ly their own bodies. In fact, the athlets\u00a0<\/span>raced so fast on their wheelchairs.\u00a0<\/span>They had a\u00a0lot more strength in their bodies than I do in my whole body!<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

I saw those wheelchairs a bit closer during the marathon. It must not be that easy to move those wheelchairs a single metre.<\/p>\n

Inside the Olympic Park was kind of ugly, to be honest. But, hey. The atmosphere and the volunteers helped make everything a great experience. Some volunteers sat in tall\u00a0chairs and tried to make us\u00a0laugh by telling us a joke. Some also told us the many hours they had been there. I hope they get rewarded.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a>\u00a0\"Watching<\/a>\u00a0\"Watching<\/a>\u00a0\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

No share or id values provided for youtube shortcode.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks for reading. See you soon!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching some of the athletics sessions at the\u00a0Paralympics at the Olympic Park last week was a\u00a0humbling experience. I couldn\u00b4t make it to the Olympics, so I had to make it …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[190,301,321,373],"yoast_head":"\nWatching the `Super Humans\u00b4 - A Londoner from Afar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/watching-the-super-humans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watching the `Super Humans\u00b4 - A Londoner from Afar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watching some of the athletics sessions at the\u00a0Paralympics at the Olympic Park last week was a\u00a0humbling experience. 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