Disabled Sports

2568 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on disability and our media culture

When one looks at the word “disability”, it immediately conjures up an idea of what someone cannot do, or something physically wrong with an individual, that prevents them from doing something as the majority of society can do. When society looks at a person with a disability, society relates or compares them to what is considered “normal”. It is that comparison to the majority, or normality which causes society to view a disability as a negative. Disabilities can limit someone or on the other hand, they can give an advantage. In this paper, I will discuss whether Talcott Parson’s sick role applies to disabled individuals. As well, I will look at Michel Foucault and how his theories such as the clinical gaze and classification play into disabled sports. Additionally, I will look at how technological advancements or enhancements change the playing field for disabled athletes such as Oscar Pistorius. When looking at disabilities, if one was to examine disabled sports and approach it from a bio-medical point of view, we would use comparisons to normality, benchmarks to what is normal and what it means to be healthy. In a sociological approach to health, one looks at the body as a whole, on more than just the physical level. Aristotle once said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts;” but, what if one part was missing, or unresponsive? The sporting world views disabled athletes in a different regard than able bodied athletes. This view becomes even more distorted when body enhancements such as prosthetics are added to the mix. Society looks at the term disabled as less than normal, as individuals who are weaker, or at times unhealthy, even when health has nothing to do with their disability. It seems that it is human to c... ... middle of paper ... ...d December 2, 2013. http://www.aimeemullins.com/about.php Swartz, Leslie and Brian Watermeyer. 2008. "Cyborg anxiety: Oscar Pistorius and the boundaries of what it means to be human." Disability & Society 23(2):187-190. Vainshtein, Olga. 2012. ""I Have a Suitcase Just Full of Legs Because I Need Options for Different Clothing": Accessorizing Bodyscapes." Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture 16(2):139-169. White, Kevin. 2009. An Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness. 2nd ed. London, England: SAGE Publications Ltd. Wikipedia. 2013. "The Six Million Dollar Man." Retrieved November 29, 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man. USA Swimming. 2013. "Trischa Zorn-Hudson." Retrieved December 3, 2013. http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/9c996fd2-8691-48d4-87f4-b51a5c65133a/Trischa%20Zorn-Hudson%20Resume%202009.pdf

Show More
Related

  • On Being A Cripple And A Plague Of Tics

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron Rhetorical Analysis

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moreover, within the text, the significance of symbolism is apparent as there are indications of the presence of different handicaps. Notably, those with above average physical attributes and above average intelligence are required by law to wear handicaps. Thus, the application and enforcement of handicaps are metaphors for sameness, because individuals with advantageous traits are limited and refrained from using their bodies and brains to their maximum abilities, for that is considered to be unfair to those who does not possess the same level of capability. Several main examples of handicaps includes “...47 pounds of birdshot… ear radios… spectacles intended to make [one] not only half blind but to [provide] whanging headaches”. Therefore, the intensity of the handicaps is a sign of the government’s seriousness in the field of administering disabilities onto their own citizens. Unfortunately, in order to maintain the sickly “equality”, the people are stripped off of their freedom. When announcers are unable to speak properly, and ballerinas are unable to dance properly, and musicians unable to perform properly, and people are unable to formulate thoughts properly — it is not a matter of equality, but a matter how low society

    Read More

  • Dylan Alcott's Disability

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    Disability is a ‘complex issue’ (Alperstein, M., Atkins, S., Bately, K., Coetzee, D., Duncan, M., Ferguson, G., Geiger, M. Hewett, G., et al.., 2009: 239) which affects a large percentage of the world’s population. Due to it being complex, one can say that disability depends on one’s perspective (Alperstein et al., 2009: 239). In this essay, I will draw on Dylan Alcott’s disability and use his story to further explain the four models of disability being The Traditional Model, The Medical Model, The Social Model and The Integrated Model of Disability. Through this, I will reflect on my thoughts and feelings in response to Dylan’s story as well as to draw on this task and my new found knowledge of disability in aiding me to become

    Read More

  • The Quality of Relationship Between the Carer and Care Receiver

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Open University (2010) K101 An introduction to health and social care, Unit 2, ‘Illness, Health and Care’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

    Read More

  • Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, Harriet McBryde Johnson: Disability

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    What comes into one’s mind when they are asked to consider physical disabilities? Pity and embarrassment, or hope and encouragement? Perhaps a mix between the two contrasting emotions? The average, able-bodied person must have a different perspective than a handicapped person, on the quality of life of a physically disabled person. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three authors who shared their experiences as physically handicapped adults. Although the three authors wrote different pieces, all three essays demonstrate the frustrations, struggles, contemplations, and triumphs from a disabled person’s point of view and are aimed at a reader with no physical disability.

    Read More

  • Underlying Risks for Cardiovascular Disease

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Weiss, G. L., & Lonnquist, L. E. (2011). The sociology of health, healing, and illness (7 ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.

    Read More

  • William Peace Speech

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Special Olympics date back all the way to the year 1968. Many see these Games as a time to honor someone who is able to “overcome” a task, but author William Peace sees this as an insulting portrayal of people with disabilities. Peace is a multidisciplinary school teacher and scholar that uses a wheel chair and writes about the science behind disabilities and handicaps. As a physically handicapped individual, Peace is able to observe a negative portrayal of disabled persons. In his article titled, “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports,” William Peace offers his own personal insight, utilizes several statistics regarding handicaps, as well as numerous rhetorical appeals in order to communicate to the “common man”

    Read More

  • Socioeconomic Factors and the Health of Individuals

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    The biomedical model of health has been criticised because it fails to include the psychological and social causes relating to an individual’s medical illness or health, looking only at the biological causes (Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Therefore, sociologists being aware of the impacts of social structure and lifestyle on health have put in various efforts to place the study of ‘the social’ at the core of health and healthcare examination.

    Read More

  • Ethnic Inequality in Health Care

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kelly, M and Nazroo, J (2008) Ethnicity and health. In Graham, S. ed. Sociology as applied to medicine. 6th ed. London: Saunders, pp. 159 - 175

    Read More

  • Medical and Social Models of Disability

    1847 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/release-calendar/index.html?newquery=*&uday=0&umonth=0&uyear=0&title=Social+Trends&paget Gerhardt, E. (1987) Ideas about Illness: An Intellectual and Political History of Medical Sociology.

    Read More

  • Gender as Portrayed in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Historical Collections :: Reflections on Health in Society & Culture." Claude Moore Health Sciences Library | www.hsl.virginia.edu. 13 Feb. 2012 .

    Read More

  • Essay On The Medical Model Of Disability

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    The World Health Organisation, WHO, (1980) defines disability in the medical model as a physical or mental impairment that restricts participation in an activity that a ‘normal’ human being would partake, due to a lack of ability to perform the task . Michigan Disability Rights Coalition (n.d.) states that the medical model emphasizes that there is a problem regarding the abilities of the individual. They argue that the condition of the disabled persons is solely ‘medical’ and as a result the focus is to cure and provide treatment to disabled people (Michigan Disability Rights Coalition, 2014). In the medical model, issues of disability are dealt with according to defined government structures and policies and are seen as a separate issue from ordinary communal concerns (Emmet, 2005: 69). According to Enabling Teachers and Trainers to Improve the Accessibility of Adult Education (2008) people with disabilities largely disa...

    Read More

  • Sociology of Health and Illness

    2118 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kevin White pp: 5-8k introduction to sociology of health and illness second edition books.goole.co.uk accessed 11-04-2014

    Read More

  • Understanding the Disabled

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...

    Read More

  • Discrimination Against People With Disabilities

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...eglected social issues in recent history (Barlow). People with disabilities often face societal barriers and disability evokes negative perceptions and discrimination in society. As a result of the stigma associated with disability, persons with disabilities are generally excluded from education, employment, and community life which deprives them of opportunities essential to their social development, health and well-being (Stefan). It is such barriers and discrimination that actually set people apart from society, in many cases making them a burden to the community. The ideas and concepts of equality and full participation for persons with disabilities have been developed very far on paper, but not in reality (Wallace). The government can make numerous laws against discrimination, but this does not change the way that people with disabilities are judged in society.

    Read More

More about Disabled Sports

Open Document