There was a lively discussion yesterday on this sub about the Paralympics social media posts. Related to that, I saw these posts on Threads from Paralympians that might help us navigate how to handle discussions about the para athletes and the Paralympics at large.
The white suburban women are coming for everyone on the internet no matter what they say.
Well, are any paralympic surfers going to moon the camera?
Can they dismantle that fear though? Like, cool, you’re ok with it but can we safely assume that athletes, their family or others won’t take offense once the gloves (or in this case, glove) are truly off?
It seems like we allowing more space for grace in society and I appreciate that.
It’s not the paralympians you have to worry about offending, it’s the always-online teenage girls that will get offended on their behalf
Like with the transgender debate or others where I’m on the side of the downtrodden and the minority, if I accidentally say something that’s less than perfectly phrased I’ll get nothing but abuse and criticism from the SUV driving suburban elite.
Hmmmm. Okay so in the end, this leads to everyone being more honest and true to their selves by making jokes that they think are funny. Simultaneously, this would require everyone to assume the best of everyone else, so no accusations are being made about mean or politically incorrect.
Sounds amazing. But also a lot like fantasy.
It’s a trap!
Most people wouldn’t get offended, but the problem is that even if you’re only offending 1% of the people who read your posts you’ll get a dozen responses of people being critical of you.
Do you wanna go to prison cuz this is how you wind up in prison. Until this long dark oppressive time ends it is best to avert your gaze from the Paralympics.
I found the memes and TikToks funny but I would like to see more of a balance with informative content about classifications and athletes.
I like the Lexi system that colour codes the body to represent impairments, even though I’m not in the slightest bit athletic it was interesting to see roughly what category I’d be in if I was,
My Grandmother was in a wheelchair for 40 years and she said the one thing she never came to terms with was the way that well meaning people would be surprisingly patronising to her as she went about her everyday life. She was, mentally, totally fine, and had good upper body strength. She just had a condition that meant she couldn’t use her legs.
I remember going to the grocery store with her and it was a bit odd how the staff were obviously bending over backwards to be as “nice” to her as possible, offering for help with even the smallest tasks that actually had nothing to do with the fact she was in a wheelchair (like offering to open the freezer even though the freezer door was sliding so the wheelchair wouldn’t even get in the way?). I understood why they did it and it was all well intentioned, but all she wanted was to be treated like an ordinary person and so this wasn’t it.
I get the impression the Paralympians must have the same sort of thing. We’ll all have fun laughing along with, or even laughing at, the Olympians, but heaven forbid we do the same to the Paralympians. We’ll claim we’re treating them the same, but we actually won’t, because we’ll be terrified that if we did treat them the same it would be considered inappropriate or insensitive. But ironically this is just denying a lot of Paralympians the equality they want.
You hit the nail right on the head. We are afraid to accidentally hurt the feelings of the disable.
I need some context on this one I have not seen the reel
Except for suggesting that China’s dominance of the Paralympics is due the deliberately disabling former Olympic athletes…
16 comments
There was a lively discussion yesterday on this sub about the Paralympics social media posts. Related to that, I saw these posts on Threads from Paralympians that might help us navigate how to handle discussions about the para athletes and the Paralympics at large.
The white suburban women are coming for everyone on the internet no matter what they say.
Well, are any paralympic surfers going to moon the camera?
Can they dismantle that fear though? Like, cool, you’re ok with it but can we safely assume that athletes, their family or others won’t take offense once the gloves (or in this case, glove) are truly off?
It seems like we allowing more space for grace in society and I appreciate that.
It’s not the paralympians you have to worry about offending, it’s the always-online teenage girls that will get offended on their behalf
Like with the transgender debate or others where I’m on the side of the downtrodden and the minority, if I accidentally say something that’s less than perfectly phrased I’ll get nothing but abuse and criticism from the SUV driving suburban elite.
Hmmmm. Okay so in the end, this leads to everyone being more honest and true to their selves by making jokes that they think are funny. Simultaneously, this would require everyone to assume the best of everyone else, so no accusations are being made about mean or politically incorrect.
Sounds amazing. But also a lot like fantasy.
It’s a trap!
Most people wouldn’t get offended, but the problem is that even if you’re only offending 1% of the people who read your posts you’ll get a dozen responses of people being critical of you.
Do you wanna go to prison cuz this is how you wind up in prison. Until this long dark oppressive time ends it is best to avert your gaze from the Paralympics.
I found the memes and TikToks funny but I would like to see more of a balance with informative content about classifications and athletes.
I like the Lexi system that colour codes the body to represent impairments, even though I’m not in the slightest bit athletic it was interesting to see roughly what category I’d be in if I was,
My Grandmother was in a wheelchair for 40 years and she said the one thing she never came to terms with was the way that well meaning people would be surprisingly patronising to her as she went about her everyday life. She was, mentally, totally fine, and had good upper body strength. She just had a condition that meant she couldn’t use her legs.
I remember going to the grocery store with her and it was a bit odd how the staff were obviously bending over backwards to be as “nice” to her as possible, offering for help with even the smallest tasks that actually had nothing to do with the fact she was in a wheelchair (like offering to open the freezer even though the freezer door was sliding so the wheelchair wouldn’t even get in the way?). I understood why they did it and it was all well intentioned, but all she wanted was to be treated like an ordinary person and so this wasn’t it.
I get the impression the Paralympians must have the same sort of thing. We’ll all have fun laughing along with, or even laughing at, the Olympians, but heaven forbid we do the same to the Paralympians. We’ll claim we’re treating them the same, but we actually won’t, because we’ll be terrified that if we did treat them the same it would be considered inappropriate or insensitive. But ironically this is just denying a lot of Paralympians the equality they want.
You hit the nail right on the head. We are afraid to accidentally hurt the feelings of the disable.
I need some context on this one I have not seen the reel
Except for suggesting that China’s dominance of the Paralympics is due the deliberately disabling former Olympic athletes…