Cyborg and Supercrip: The Paralympics Technology and the (Dis)empowerment of Disabled Athletes

Abstract

Over the last two decades the Paralympic Games have gained a high public profile. As a result there has been an ever increasing commercial marketplace for aerodynamic and feather light racing (wheel)chairs as well as biomechanically and ergonomically responsive prostheses that have helped create a legion of cyborg bodies that is manifest in the image of the sporting supercrip. Mobility devices that enhance performance have also created a divide between different impairment groups and also amongst ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations. This article highlights the development of a technocentric ideology within the Paralympic Movement that has led to the cyborgification of some Paralympic bodies. It questions whether the advances in technology are actually empowering disabled athletes.

Imperfect Perfection and Wheelchair Bodybuilding: Challenging Ableism or Reproducing Normalcy?

“…Does his performance and the reaction of the audience suggest that contemporary bodybuilding may provide an arena in which able-bodied norms of perfection are disrupted, and a space created for a disabled bodily perfection to emerge that challenges the normative able/disabled binary? As what might be described as a 'supercrip' athlete (Howe, 2011), is Dan challenging ableism and its inherent binary oppositions by introducing a different and empowering body aesthetic? Or, is he engaged in a strategy of 'enfreakment' (Richardson, 2012) This article draws on data generated from a 4-year ethnographic study designed to explore the experiences of people who had become disabled through spinal cord injury (SCI) and the meanings they gave to their subsequent involvement in disability sport as part of a process of reconstructing their body-self-culture relationships over time.…”

The cyborgification of paralympic sport

“…I use the term here specifically to refer to athletes with a disability who do not use either a wheelchair or prosthesis while competing in athletics. secured in place by a vacuum seal device which often includes gel padding which greatly reduces the risk of injury from swelling and friction (Howe, , 2011. We now turned to the notion that such developments and their celebration (Howe & Parker, 2012) signal a 'technocratic ideology' that Shogun (1998) has suggested is becoming increasingly pervasive within the Paralympic movement.…”

“…It is these cyborg sporting bodies that are most often celebrated by the IPC (Howe, 2007(Howe, , 2008a(Howe, , 2011. Bodies that are able to successfully adapt to technology that wherever possible normalises their movements within society generally and on the athletics track specifically are seen as (the most) successful.…”

“…The bodies that are celebrated within the Paralympic movement -highly functioning wheelchair racers (Howe & Parker, 2012) or those who use technologically advanced prosthetics (Howe, 2011) have increasingly high profile because of the ability of the technology they use to enhance their normality. Those bodies that do not use movement technologies to compete in disability sport benefit from advances in sport science support, such as biomechanical and physiological analysis but are still marginalized.…”

Mídia e o movimento paralímpico no Brasil: relações sob o ponto de vista de dirigentes do Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro

“…Percebe-se que o capital simbólico valorizado pela mídia no campo do espetáculo esportivo diz respeito, entre outros fatores, à exaltação de feitos atléticos e ao culto ao corpo, respeitando um Tanto o discurso do entrevistado S2, quanto alguns registros na literatura 24,26,44 apontam que existe, Assim como no esporte convencional, no paradesporto também é vitorioso somente o mais veloz, mais forte, mais ágil. A diferença é que velocidade, força e agilidade aparecem entre próteses, vendas nos olhos e outras adaptações estruturais 28 (p.161).…”