By Simon Heng
The media define swimming great Michael Phelps as disabled because he has ADHD. The Paralympics will show us otherwise
I've been glued to the TV for what seems like 24 hours a day during August. The Olympics fascinates me in lots of ways: the fact that there seems to be an Olympic sport for every body shape, for one thing; how people can push themselves beyond normal pain thresholds for another, and to go on performing after they've reached the normal limits of exhaustion for a third.
And the training: it's almost beyond my understanding that the swimmers spend so much energy swimming laps of the pool every day that all they can do with the rest of their time is to sleep and eat. The degree of motivation that it takes to make an elite athlete is staggering. Mind you, to my mind, doing anything more than you absolutely have to is an Olympian feat.
As usual, the media try to find anything to make these achievements even more astonishing. One trend that particularly bothers me is the attempts to establish that a star has achieved greatness in spite of a disability. Louis Smith, Britain's gymnastics medallist, was called hyperactive when he was a child. Multiple gold medal winner Michael Phelps had, or has, apparently, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
This is a well worn trick in the media. David Beckham has been exposed as having an obsessive/compulsive disorder, and Stephen Fry has even questioned himself for showing signs of being bipolar.
But are any of these really a disability? Would David Beckham be the great player that he has been without his determination to perfection (although I can see that his need to have cola cans stacked in piles of six, and his obsession with neatness could be difficult to live with)? Would Stephen Fry have his understanding of human nature without highs and lows of his moods?
Would Michael Phelps or Louis Smith have achieved Olympics success if they hadn't had the temperament to repeat the same exercises thousands upon thousands of times?
One definition of disability is "the lack of capability to complete everyday tasks" - but what if the way that you differ from the norm helps you to become an elite athlete? Is it still a disability?
I'm just going to settle down and watch "real" disabled athletes competing in the Paralympic Games. All of the dedication, all of the training, and real triumphs against adversity, with none of the hype.
Simon Heng is a wheelchair user and is involved in service user-led groups
➔ See www.communitycare.co.uk/109100 for more on the Paralympics
And the training: it's almost beyond my understanding that the swimmers spend so much energy swimming laps of the pool every day that all they can do with the rest of their time is to sleep and eat. The degree of motivation that it takes to make an elite athlete is staggering. Mind you, to my mind, doing anything more than you absolutely have to is an Olympian feat.
As usual, the media try to find anything to make these achievements even more astonishing. One trend that particularly bothers me is the attempts to establish that a star has achieved greatness in spite of a disability. Louis Smith, Britain's gymnastics medallist, was called hyperactive when he was a child. Multiple gold medal winner Michael Phelps had, or has, apparently, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
This is a well worn trick in the media. David Beckham has been exposed as having an obsessive/compulsive disorder, and Stephen Fry has even questioned himself for showing signs of being bipolar.
But are any of these really a disability? Would David Beckham be the great player that he has been without his determination to perfection (although I can see that his need to have cola cans stacked in piles of six, and his obsession with neatness could be difficult to live with)? Would Stephen Fry have his understanding of human nature without highs and lows of his moods?
Would Michael Phelps or Louis Smith have achieved Olympics success if they hadn't had the temperament to repeat the same exercises thousands upon thousands of times?
One definition of disability is "the lack of capability to complete everyday tasks" - but what if the way that you differ from the norm helps you to become an elite athlete? Is it still a disability?
I'm just going to settle down and watch "real" disabled athletes competing in the Paralympic Games. All of the dedication, all of the training, and real triumphs against adversity, with none of the hype.
Simon Heng is a wheelchair user and is involved in service user-led groups
➔ See www.communitycare.co.uk/109100 for more on the Paralympics
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