BM Disability and Sports

     Before reviewing this week's content, I never thought much about what the word “para” in Paralympics meant. I would assume that a part of me may have considered the words “paralyzed”, “paraplegic” or even the word “paraprofessional” that I have heard in relation to disability and special education. Reflecting on this, I am not too proud of myself. It seems like implicit biases from the past may have come lurking into my assumptions of what “para” in “Paralympics” really means. It also makes me start to wonder what other people might think it means. After reviewing this week's content, I learned that the true meaning of Paralympics is to be parallel to the Olympic games. This means that the Paralympics are games run alongside the Olympics. The word “para” is actually Greek and means “beside”. Unfortunately I also learned that even though the intention was for the Paralympics to run side by side with the Olympics, that did not actually happen until years after the ...

       As a senior Psychology student with a minor in Disability Studies, I have learned about inspiration porn and have watched the TedTalk presented by Stella Young a multitude of times. I am also a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) and provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and many other different types of diagnoses. Taking disability studies courses and becoming an RBT this year has taught me so much about the disabled community and has opened my eyes to an entire phenomenon I was not aware of before. I personally identify as an able bodied person but working with people with disabilities has shown me that inspiration porn is a very real topic.      Since I was in highschool, I have always been around the disabled community in a very active way. In my hometown there was a local park opening up for individuals who are disabled called “ Toms River Field of Dreams ”. My family and I took an active rol...