It\u2019s a powerful moment, because sport has the ability to shift our collective perspective.<\/p>\n
And yet, once again, there\u2019s a feeling of a missed opportunity. The dominant narrative is still that of \u201cheroes.\u201d Extraordinary athletes, of course\u2014but too often turned into symbols of extreme resilience, examples so \u201cexceptional\u201d that they seem to belong to another world, far from the everyday lives of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
A narrative that, instead of including, risks creating even more distance. Celebrating achievements is right. It\u2019s necessary. But when the story flattens into heroism, something subtle happens: disability is accepted only when it is spectacular\u2014when it wins, when it overcomes every limit in extraordinary ways.<\/p>\n
Ordinary lives disappear. Complexities disappear. Rights that are not guaranteed disappear. Everyday barriers disappear.<\/p>\n
The idea that a person with a disability can simply exist\u2014work, love, fail, choose\u2014without having to be an inspiration at all times, disappears.<\/p>\n
The Paralympics could have been, and still could be, a space to truly broaden the way we look at disability in Italy.<\/p>\n
Not just sports performance, but accessibility, inclusion, autonomy, participation. Instead, too often, we choose the easier path: the emotional, simplified, reassuring one. The one that moves us\u2014but doesn\u2019t change anything.<\/p>\n
Saying \u201cdespite the disability\u201d suggests that disability is something to defeat, always and at all costs. Saying \u201cconfined to a wheelchair\u201d conveys limitation and imprisonment, instead of autonomy and a tool for mobility. Talking about \u201csuperheroes\u201d risks making invisible all those people with disabilities who do not want\u2014and should not have\u2014to be extraordinary to be recognized.<\/p>\n
Changing language is not a matter of form. It\u2019s a matter of power.<\/p>\n
Because language shapes collective imagination, and collective imagination shapes society. The Paralympics are not just a sporting event. They are a cultural mirror.<\/p>\n
The question is not whether we are capable of feeling emotional. We are very good at that.<\/p>\n
The question is: are we ready to truly change the way we look at people with disabilities?<\/p>\n
Change starts here: with the words we choose, the stories we tell\u2014and those we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
article by Anita Pallara<\/p>\n
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