Ema's Insights

  After doing a lot of research and looking around I noticed that there aren’t any programs in our area directed at children with hearing or visual impairments to be able to compete in sports. I looked on Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook trying to find programs in my area that would be able to cater to a child with visual or hearing impairments who wish to play sports. I have a little cousin who is a sophomore in high school and she attends Absegami. Her name is Emily and she went deaf in 2008 from a severe bacterial meningitis infection that ended up taking her hearing. Although she isn’t a very big sports girl she does participate in clubs and certain athletics at Absegami High School along with able-bodied athletes. I asked her a couple of questions in regard to her sports career and how she was able to get on the team with her disability. She explained to me that, even though they don’t offer anything directly for her disability, she was able to sit down with the sports, Director...

I know that there is a lot of debate on pushback when discussing the separation of the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. I think that it is okay that the games are kept separate. initially, that sounds like bad writing but I have a reason why I think that the game should stay separate. The Special Olympics and the Paralympic Games both have their own set of classifications double the opportunities for athletes to be able to get into a sport that they want to play. combining games, merging all of the sports together would also mean merging the classifications. Not only with these major issues and controversy within the games, but it would create a lot of confusion for the people who are trying to figure out where to put certain people the Paralympic games do have an opportunity for people with intellectual abilities to test into a classification for a sport that they offer, so it doesn’t mean that everyone with intellectual abilities is completely cut off from competing in the Paral...

       The ban of Russia and Belarus from the past few Paralympics is a topic that I agree and disagree with on different levels. I understand that the IPC has gone through a lot to keep its games up and running since COVID-19 in 2021. They are trying to continue to do anything to keep the games going. From a political standpoint, I understand why the IPC is trying to avoid further conflict by allowing Russia and Belarus to continue to represent their country in the Paralympic Games with everything that’s going on. As long as there is active conflict or war going on between Russia and Belarus, I do think that the IPC is making the correct decision to not allow them to represent their countries in the Paralympic games. I don’t think that they should remove all Russians and Belarus and NPCs from being able to participate in future events. I liked the idea that they talked about in the Paralympic article, where they discussed that Russian and Belarus athletes will be al...

     I understand the idea of classification for disabled people who wish to participate in sports. Not only is it for their safety to make sure that they are getting into a sport that their disability can handle but it isn't going to to further any issues related to their disability. Secondly, the different classification and levels that the athlete is placed under is to make sure that they are competing with other athletes with the same or similar disabilities to ensure there is somewhat similar competition. I do believe that regardless of the disability, as long as the athlete is physically able to perform into a classification they should be able to qualify. They do have 10 different classifications for athletes to be able to test into. In the video for the New Zealand Paralympics, they were able to show how these athletes get tested for classification and I agree with this process in order to ensure the athletes' safety and make sure that they are going to be pu...

        The medical model of disability  is a scientific diagnosis given to someone at some point. The medical model of disability is a matter of fact and not what people assume about the disabled. Doctors and people in the medical field focus solely on the diagnosis and how that affects the person. They don't assume that a person can or cannot do something or feel some way because they know the intricacies of the disability. On the other hand, the biopsychosocial model of disability is a more intricate way of looking at disability. Society has a bad habit of creating preconceived notions about people with disabilities even though they most likely know little to nothing about the disability someone has. The biopsychosocial model allows us to take a deep dive into the different aspects of someone's disability like culture, age, and cognition. Those are just a couple of things that the model looks into. Instead of just saying this is the disability someone has it ...

      Technology is a major part of our modern society, always evolving and changing. Adaptive technology has been used in disabled sports for a while and is also always changing. I do think that adaptive technology should be allowed in disabled sports. For practice athletes should be allowed to use whatever type of technology they want or are comfortable with. On the other hand, I think that there should be some type of regulation on the technology that is allowed to be used in competition. With all of the new technology coming out, it's going to be common that one athlete could come in with state-of-the-art equipment, while another athlete has adaptive technology from ten years ago because that is all that they can afford. Major competitions like the Olympics should be putting regulations on what can be used like everyone has to have devices from the same year or manufacture. Athletes competing in the games who come from disadvantaged nations that cannot afford the tech...