Mediation through Impairment — Diplomacy and Paralympism

Abstract

The emergence of the Paralympics is a relatively recent (post-war) phenomenon. Given its origins in efforts to engage with sport as a tool to facilitate the rehabilitation of combatants who were disabled as a result of World War Two (Stoke Mandeville Games), there are important historical links between the Games and wider geo-political events. In setting the context for international diplomacy and Paralympism, it is first necessary to consider changing perceptions regarding the nature of disability and the movement of disability rights, up the international political agenda. The relatively recent arrival of the Paralympics, its smaller scale and political sensitivity towards disability, has meant that the Games have not featured as prominently in international diplomacy as the Olympic Games. There are however, important caveats to that, namely, since it follows directly after the Olympic Games, the Paralympics have been affected by ‘overspill’ from diplomatic tensions relating to the Olympics. In addition, the rapid (though inconsistent) increase in the scale of the event (see Table 3.1) and its links to the wider human rights agenda, is increasingly drawing these Games into mainstream diplomatic discourse.