‘Differently abled’: new Paris exhibition reveals how attitudes to paralympic sport have changed

Soon after the closing of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Channel 4 began promoting its Paralympic coverage with the strapline: “Thanks for the warm-up”. It followed up with its biggest ever marketing campaign, “Meet the Superhumans”, that garnered critical acclaim.

The Paralympics were beamed to more than 100 countries, eventually drawing 3.8 billion viewers. At the closing ceremony Lord Coe, president of the London 2012 Organising Committee, said people would never think of disability in the same way again. Research undertaken after the Paralympics revealed that 65% of Britons agreed London delivered a breakthrough in the way people with an impairment are viewed.

Now, on the eve of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, a new exhibition documents the last 70 years of para sport. Paralympic History: From Integration in Sport to Social Inclusion (1948-2024) begins with the early community created through the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1948 – which opened on the same day as the London 1948 Olympic Games, foregrounding the post-war needs of injured soldiers.

This led to the establishment of shared principles and aspirations, culminating in the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. In the years that followed the Games have become a global brand showcasing boundary-pushing technologies and exceptional human performance.

Visitors encounter a copy of the document that sets out the origin of the International Paralympic Committee in 1989. Also included is the documentation from the Court of Arbitration decision in 2008, which outlines why South African runner Oscar Pistorius was entitled to compete in the London 2012 Olympics wearing his Össur Cheetah Flex-Foot. This was the first time in history that an athlete with a prosthesis had done so, marking a new chapter in how people thought about disability in sport.

These documents may not make for exciting exhibits, but they do underscore the importance given to legal transformations that have enabled the development of para sport.

Were it not for these landmark historical changes the Paralympics would not have become the global event that it is today, with a growing media impact. The establishment of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was key because it brought an organised strategy to the future of the Paralympics and greater alignment with the International Olympic Committee.

Representing para athletes

The phrase “not disabled, differently abled” features prominently in this exhibition, which reveals how the London 2012 Paralympic Games ushered in a new era for para sport. While the presence of Pistorius was one aspect, crucially, it was how the newly appointed Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4, told the story – leading to a new chapter in the global coverage of para sport.

Though Channel 4’s memorable 2012 Superhumans campaign broke new ground, some critics found it unhelpful. But the broadcaster was determined to articulate why it was necessary. Research commissioned by Channel 4 revealed that many viewers saw para sport as disability first and excellence second: 59% of people said they watched the Paralympics to “see athletes overcoming their disabilities”, and just 37% said they watched it for “exciting sporting competition”.

In response, and to encourage viewers to see para sport differently, Channel 4’s Paris 2024 campaign shows Paralympians overcoming forces such as “gravity, friction and time – the dispassionate elements and unchangeable forces of our world that make no exception for any athlete, regardless of disability”.

In a public statement, Yiannis Excharcos, CEO of the Olympic Broadcasting Services, warned broadcasters against sexist coverage of women’s sport at the 2024 Games, reflecting the view that unconscious bias still leads to such reporting. The same applies now to Paralympics coverage: patronising attitudes are not acceptable. In this sense, it remains critical that broadcasters harness the potential to change public perceptions.

But there is a deeper story of para culture unfolding in Paris. The Panthéon exhibition is just one of many projects funded by France’s ministry of culture that address the theme through various artistic practices, including dance, theatre and the visual arts. When visitors attend the Games in Paris they will see performances by artists that highlight para culture and the wider excellence of differently abled performance culture in France.

In this sense, the hard work of social change that is woven into the Paris 2024 Games – both Olympic and Paralympic – is not just what is shown by broadcasters on the field of play, but a feature of the wider public environment in which the Games are being held.

This is why it is so critical that the Games are a place for people to converge in physical spaces and reflect on this experience to further imagine what the future could be like if societies could make space to accommodate differences more effectively.

In Channel 4’s campaign for Paris 2024, the broadcaster reminds its audiences how it “exists to represent unheard voices, challenge the mainstream and stir the metaphorical pot”. This Paralympian spirit is perhaps what makes its contribution so distinct, but also why Channel 4 leads the way in what sports broadcasting can or should be.

Yet the broadcaster’s approach also reinforces the idea that para sport is different and needs specific efforts to address the remaining inequalities that continue to limit its progress. Without this commitment and attention, the rate of transformation and acceptance of para sport sought by the IPC and its community will not progress swiftly.

One of the other featured athletes in the Panthéon exhibition is Aimee Mullins who, perhaps better than anyone else, captures the themes of Paris 2024. As an icon of Paralympic track and field, Mullins has also become a fashion icon who embodies the positive affirmation that “difference is beautiful”.

And this message, championed by this Paralympic exhibition, is perhaps the strongest to come out of Paris 2024. Difference doesn’t require us to make comparisons in order to evaluate worth, but to recognise that it is an inherent feature of a progressive, equitable and well-rounded society.

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Andy Miah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.