Promoting Para-Sports: Abandoning the "Supercrip" Narrative
With exposure on the rise, the way para-sports are promoted in Canadian media is changing.
When Arley McNeney won bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics with the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team, it wasn’t really talked about. The stories written about her at the time focused solely on her disability rather than the fact that she had just placed third on the biggest stage of international para-athletic competition. Ironically, McNeney, who no longer competes and now works as a communications coordinator for various para-sports organizations, has received much more press since her playing career ended.
The way that para-athletes are portrayed in the media is changing, but for a long time, the story of the “supercrip” was as close as these athletes ever came to being covered. In her book Disability, Society and the Individual, rehabilitation specialist Julie Smart defines the “supercrip” as: “the presentation of a person, affected by a disability or illness (often in the prime of life), as ‘overcoming’ to succeed as a meaningful member of society and to live a ‘normal’ life.” Historically, coverage of para-sports has been riddled with this kind of inspiration-pandering rhetoric, focused around an athlete’s disability, rather than their ability. As such, an athlete’s accomplishments get pushed to the side. In McNeney’s case, her story became one of grappling with a degenerative spine disorder rather than her bronze medal win.
This ableist portrayal is due mainly to the fact that until very recently, the Paralympic Games didn’t receive any significant mainstream media coverage —people simply didn’t know how to cover para-sports. In 2012, the UK’s Channel 4 host broad-caster of the Games broke the mould by launching a multi-platform advertising campaign for the London Paralympics. Along with the their viral “Meet the Superhumans” commercial, which promoted their athletes, the Games received 24-hour coverage typical to that of the Olympics and challenged viewers to see the Games as an event of their own, rather than an aside to the Olympics. Following suit, the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) acquired the rights to broadcast the Games in 2014 — an unprecedented move, which gave Canadians access to more than 65 hours of broadcast and up to 350 hours of digital streaming, connecting audiences to the Games across multiple platforms. Coupled with the advent of social media, exposure and visibility of the Games and its athletes has increased dramatically.
Channel 4's inaugural "Meet the Superhumans" ad, which ran on 78 channels in the UK in preparation for the 2012 Paralympics.
“The challenge for us is we have these big [Olympic] Games right beforehand that take up a lot of airplay,” says Martin Richard, executive director of communication and marketing for the CPC. “We wanted something that had more longevity than your traditional marketing campaign. Instead of showing the public what they would see during the Paralympic Games, we wanted to show the work that it takes to get there.”
That something was the Paratough campaign, which emphasized the mental and physical toughness of some of Canada’s best Paralympians leading up to Rio. The campaign featured 14 Canadian para-athletes, including Nik Goncin and Zak Madell, from a variety of different sports, who led viewers through a video series of five quick, intense workouts.
The Canadian Paralympic Committee's introduction to the Paratough Training Series.
“Initially, we had a lot of interaction from people who didn’t know anything about the sports, who were trying these workouts out,” says Richard. “Now, we’re starting to see a solid fan base for the sports — people that are watching not just because it’s something new.
Benoît Huot, a 20-time Paralympic medalist who also participated in the campaign, has been competing in the Games since 2000. According to him, the difference between coverage of the Paralympics today compared to his first Games is day and night.
Huot has clubbed feet and unlike many para-athletes, his disability is somewhat invisible. Though there’s much more awareness about the Paralympics’ system for classifying disabilities, he still gets questions about why he’s allowed to compete in the Paralympics.
“As an athlete who’s been involved in para-sports for a long time, I feel like I have a mission to increase their visibility,” he says. “When I get a question, instead of taking it like ‘Oh, again...’ I see it more as an opportunity or a solution to be able to educate someone, so that they’ll be able to go to bed at night and have a better idea of what we do.” says Huot.
Canadian Paralympic swimmers Benoît Huot and Aurélie Rivard train core and legs in their portion of the Paratough Training Series.
Though the consensus is that the promotion of para-sports in Canada is moving in the right direction, one of the problems, according to McNeney, has been showcasing the range of who can participate — they aren’t just for aspiring Paralympians. That’s where Paratough 2.0 comes in.
According to Richard, the video series was just the beginning for the Paratough campaign. In February 2017, the Paratough Cup is coming to Toronto and will bring corporate employees together to team up and take on various para-sport-themed challenges — not only to raise awareness for para-sports on a recreational level, but to fund Canada’s next generation of para-athletes.
“I do believe that the notion of Paratoughness will stick around a little bit longer,” says Richard. “We’ve got a couple more stories to tell.
