Disability and sports

   Week 6      Fair Sport        The technology used in sports has always been a controversial topic. This is mostly seen in the Paralympics because of the more visible connection between the person and a machine. Many new technological advancements are surfacing over the years which improve the lives of people with disabilities. The essence of the Paralympics is that technology must be safe and responsible but must not enhance the athletes' performance beyond natural ability. I believe that if an athlete has adaptive technology they should be allowed to use it unless it is being used incorrectly. It could be used incorrectly by making them perform better than normal or giving them an advantage in a certain way. Both, the Olympics and Paralympics, have issues with how to deal with technology and keep the "purity of the sport." But what has to be known is technology is just an extension or tool of the person, it is the athlete that harnesses the skill for the sport.  Just

  WEEK 5     Disability and Media     Media Coverage        Over the years, media coverage for the Paralympics has increased but isn't where it should be in comparison to the Olympics. In 2016 Paralympian runner Abdellatif Baka set the world record by beating US Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz for the 1500-meter race. Fewer than 100,000 Americans witnessed this moment, in comparison three weeks prior 14 million viewers were watching Matthew Centrowitz take the gold. Awareness of the Paralympics amount Americans is very far behind because of the limited resources. Experts say this has to do with the timing of the Paralympics. I think with all the commotion leading up to the Olympics that's all the media talks about. So, when it is over people don't think about what is next, they are just excited to have watched the Olympics. I believe to fix this issue they first need to start with the timing of the Paralympics. Instead of two weeks after the Olympics maybe the Para