The RIO Paralympics are underway as you read this piece and already Australian paralympians are in the medals – Gold, Silver. Bronze and participation.
Moreover the paralympics highlight a sense of equality in endeavour, spirit, engagement, endurance, power, drive, enthusiasm, fun and national succour.
Readily acknowledged is that paralympians have a lot to endure to reach this level of skill and achievement.
There has been much written in Christian publications on all this and how the Scriptures relate to this subject and forward nations of this provide backing and financial support.
RIO has been disappointing at this level. There was plenty of money available for the Paralympics in London 4 years ago, Beijing before that, Athens and Sydney too. But a lot went wrong for RIO with lack of funding and public support. Many look to Tokyo in 2020 to fix the issue.
This is all topical right now as last weekend the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) held its annual conference in Sydney and part of the agenda was a seminar plenary on disabilities.
Dr Shane Clifton and his team Helena McNeill and Louise Gosbell addressed disabilities. Dr Clifton is in a wheelchair and spoke of the stages of his realisation he would never walk and being part of a penetcostal church is quite a statement. This was a remarkable session.
Dr Clifton PhD is an Australian theologian. He is currently the Dean of Theology of Alphacruis College (Sydney NSW) and in addition is the editor of the Australian Pentecostal Studies journal.
After a serious accident in water playing with the kids in 2010 leaving him a quadriplegic, his attention has focused on the intersection between disability and various conceptions with the good life. http://shaneclifton.com/
At ARPA Shane Clifton challenged the RIO paralympics being underfunded and treated with less significance in terms of infrastructure, finance and sustainability.
Dr Clifton likened it to any sphere in such wealthy cultures where people with disabilities were treated as second class and without dignity. Simple things even in Australia where public buildings are without wheelchair ramps .... his list highlighted the respect to which people with disabilities are entitled.
2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games are only 2 years away. ......
Mark Tronson is an author of five hockey books and wrote hockey for The Australian for many years. He retains an avid interest in all thing hockey with his most illustrious article being from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics hockey tournament where he re-phrased "ice hockey" terms for the "field hockey" - an article that was syndicated around the world.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html