On Friday Two Big Ears promised to answer the question ‘Why should society recognise and respect the Deaflympics?”
In tonights post, Two Big Ears will demonstrate that the Deaflympics are worthy of its equal standing to the Paralympics by using the concepts of “Deaf Gain” and the Social and Medical Models of Disability and the benefits of elite disability sport.
Commentators and spectators alike are suggesting that the Paralympics is re-defining the term ‘disability’ and therefore justifying a sociological impact of sport. The Deaflympics are also capable of doing this.
First some short definitions:
“Social Model of Disability” The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) – society is the main contributing factor in disabling people.
“Medical Model of Disability” The medical model of disability focusses on the individuals limitations and ways to reduce those impairments or using adaptive technology to adapt them to society.
“Deaf Gain” is defined as a reframing of ‘deaf‘ as a form of sensory and cognitive diversity that has the potential to contribute to the greater good of humanity. There are several concepts within Deaf Gain, including; Deaf Increase – the opposite of hearing loss, emphasising that Deaf people have something of importance. Deaf benefit – deafness is a benefit as well as a loss. Deaf contribute – all the ways deaf people contrinbute to humankind
Between 1988 and 1993, the ICSD became a member of the IPC to try and find a way to assimilate into the Paralympics. Unfortunately, through the social model of disability the process identified systemic barriers created by the need for interpreters and the costs of this. When I was interviewed by BBC Newshour yesterday, the presenter challenged the issue “But surely, these days the costs of providing funds to give paralympians specially designed wheelchairs, limbs , equipment and so on must far outweigh the costs of providing sign language interpreters – (in order to allow Deaflympians into the Paralympics)?” A mute point up for discussion between IPC and ICSD
In 1924, the founders of the Silent Games were looking for ways to empower deaf people though the Olympic ideals of Cubertin. Using the power of an international muli-sports competition for the greater good. The motto at the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics was “Power in Me” (The Chinese literal translation was “The Power of Silence”) it empowered both the deaf and the hearing to come together and learn about sign language. The Deaflympics brought a benefit to the Taiwanese hosts to enable them to provide a service to visiting athletes and supporters. The LOC of the games was a mixed team of deaf and hearing people in order to empower everyone and give them an opportunity that would ordinarily be denied.
In the context of Deaf Gain, Deaflympic athletes and coaches should be valued by society because they have something to contribute. Hearing coaches and athletes can pick up new ways of learning and interacting with their sports environment in order to improve performance. One example I have read is an occasion where the Swiss national junior snowboard team hired a coach who was deaf. “The coach realised that the snowboarders were listening to the sound of the board cutting into snow so they could work out if they were making the quickest stops and sharpest turns possible. The coach was not satisfied with this reliance on auditory cues and made his athletes wear ear-plus during training. Deprived of their usual sensory feedback, the snowboarders initially felt out of their element, but the earplugs forced them to learn to depend on the feel of the snow beneath their boards. Eventually the athlete’s performances improved markedly.”
The Deaflympic are a great forum for “transnationalism” through gesture and sign language. A model of human interaction in a globalised world. Deaflympians are able to interact and communicate with each other across linguistic boundaries immediately. Therefore, in comparison, Olympians and Paralympians have to find a common spoken language before they can communicate successfully.
This week, Tom Smith, a deaf cyclist from Wales is competing in the European Deaf Cycling championships. Tom is not a native sign language user, he has been educated using the oral tradition. His tweets from Russia this week illustrate transnationalism. “Sign language improving. Alphabet similar to ASL. Just keep forgetting f & g ha ha!….. After the race, stood around talking to Russians, Belgians, French, Germans, Austrians, six nationalities including me – one language. How cool is that!”
By comparison, in the book “Sky’s the Limit” there is a description of a daily routine of GB cycling academy which at the time, was 3 hours road work, one hour lunch, 3 hours French then 3 hours track work. They needed to learn French so that they could live and work on mainland europe where French is a dominant language for cycling teams and training environments.
Olympians and Paralympians have a lot to gain from the valuable contributions that Deaflympians bring to human communication.
The article I have read on ‘Deaf Gain’ concludes with the potential impact of this concept.
“For most parents, the concept of a deaf baby conjures up anxious thoughts of isolation, limited communication and myriad other difficulties for their child. But that is the old frame. The new frame, the frame of Deaf Gain, sees the baby not as a problem but as an asset. A family with a deaf baby benefits by being exposed to a new language and culture and to new people, ideas and experiences. A deaf baby is value added to a family, but the contribution benefits not only the family but general society as well. Every deaf baby born on this planet is a gift to humankind.”
In a world where the Deaflympics is recognised and valued, the above vision of a deaf baby in a hearing family could be translated to a local level in sport. At the moment, to most coaches and athletes, the concept of a deaf athlete/teammate conjures up “anxious thoughts of isolation, limited communication and a myriad of other difficulties”. But through Deaf Gain, the team can see the deaf athlete as an “asset”. A team with a deaf player benefits by being “exposed to a new language and culture and to new ideas and experience”. Value the Deaflympics and it will become a gift to sport and humankind in the same way that the Olympic and Paralympics have inspired a generation this summer.
Two Big Ears was originally planning to stop his campaign when he Paralympic flame was extinguished. But it has been decided to continue as they are some much more to learn about deaf sport. Only by keeping the Deaflympics and the forefront of society’s conscious might we see a “fair deal” for Deaflympians.
Two Big Ears will be blogging twice a week. so please watch out for future posts.
If you like what you are reading here and wish to keep up with other discussions on the subject, you are welcome to visit the UK Deaf Sport group on LinkedIn for professional discussions.
Stuart Harrison, Vice Chair, UK Deaf Sport will be giving a radio interview on Newshour, the flagship news & current affairs programme on BBC World Service Radio.
The show will go out between 1300 and 1400 on Sunday Stuart will be joined in the studio by Rajeev Bagga, world renowned deaf badminton player, Deaflympic medalist, Commonwealth games competitor and current English badminton Age- group champion.
Contrary to comments from those in the know, this interview is not about Two Big Ears!
It will be answering questions about the Deaflympics, what they are, when they take place, why they are not part of the Paralympics and why the event seems to pass under the radar.
Somehow Two Big Ears will work out how to link this blog up to the recorded interview and hopefully will be able to provide a transcript as soon as possible afterwards.
World Service is the BBCs international radio station with a weekly global audience of over 170 million listeners.
Yes, I have booked a BSL interpreter… hopefully they don’t have a limping chicken!
Gotta go, shower, breakfast, then more Two Big Ear mayhem in my birthplace Warrington!
Two Big Ears post Classifying Disability Sport has prompted a very good BSL response from Sarah Lawrence of the Welsh Deaf Golf Association who is asking for opinions on the suggestion of introducing 35dB as a category to a Home Nations competition in the UK.
Here is Sarah’s BSL
You are all welcome to reply.
BSL VERSION COMING SOON!
On Wednesday, Two Big Ears looked at how the 21st century media uses 19th century freak show structures, stories and techniques to market the Paralympics and why this is having a negative impact on Deaf sport because Deafness is a hidden disability.
Tonight, (or through the early hours of Friday!) Two Big Ears is going to re-write history by describing what philosophies influenced the people who created the “Silent Games” in 1924 and the “Stoke Mandeville Games” of 1948 and the way that these ideas have been recorded in history, influences the way people treat Deaflympians differently today.
First of all, we look at what inspired Eugene Rubens – Alcais, a Deaf car mechanic and competitive cyclist from Paris to dream up the first international multi-sports event for disabled people in 1924
He drew his courage from Pierre de Coubertin the French aristocrat who in the late 19th century promoted the benefits of athletics and organised the modern Athens Olympics in 1896. Coubertin wanted to introduce PE to French schools. He believed that his countrymen were easily defeated in war because they did not take fitness seriously enough. He travelled the world to study different methods of teaching:
“What Coubertin saw on the playing fields of Rugby and the other English schools he visited was how “organised sport can create moral and social strength”. Not only did organised games help to set the mind and body in equilibrium, it also prevented the time being wasted in other ways. First developed by the ancient Greeks, it was an approach to education that he felt the rest of the world had forgotten and to whose revival he was to dedicate the rest of his life. (Wikipedia)
Eugene Rubens- Alcais was born in 1884 and grew up in a time when “societies everywhere viewed deaf people as intellectually inferior, linguistically impoverished and often treated as outcast”. He became a prominent member of the French Deaf community, led the Paris Sports Club for Deaf Mutes and became President of the French Deaf Mute Sports Federation. Inspired by Coubertin’s ideas of the Olympics and together with the help of a young Belgian named Antoine Dresse, they created the idea of the international “Silent Games” as a way of challenging the oppression towards deaf people at that time. They used “Olympic ideals” to give the deaf communities around the world the “moral and social strength” to help each other and improve their place in society. Self-empowerment and forbearers of the “Social Model of Disability”.
Eugene and Antoine timed the “Silent Games” to be held in Paris two weeks after the 1924 Paris Olympics to gain maximum possible exposure. The “Silent Games” were modelled on the Olympics and despite what the IPC want everyone to believe today, it is the “Silent Games” that were the first international games ever for any group of people with disabilities. “The games immediately became the social context for countries to deliberate about similarities and differences in the welfare of their deaf people and afterwards, the deaf sporting leaders assembled at a café in Paris and established Le Comite International des Sports Silencieux (CISS) which was later named ICSD; The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf.”
Not surprisingly, Eugene earned the nickname the ‘deaf baron de Coubertin”
In the last year of the 19th century, Ludwig “Poppa” Guttman was born in Germany and rose to become an eminent doctor. He fled Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany and came to England to work at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
Ludwig grew up during the “Jewish Revival” which included the use of physical training and sport as an expression of new Jewish self-confidence and a way for the Jews to integrate into a non-Jewish environment. Is this pretty much what Eugene Rubens- Alcais was attempting to do for deaf people to live in a non-deaf environment ?
It has been assumed that Ludwig’s involvement in sport as a youth would have influenced his later ideas for using sport to rehabilitate his spinal-injury patients and their reintegration into normal life. He came up with the idea of the first Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948 to coincide with Opening Day of the London Olympics of that year, 24 years after the international “Silent Games”
WHO SHOULD HAVE THE RECOGNITION ?
At this point, Two Big Ears would like to re-write history correctly, contrary to what The Spinal Injuries Clinic at Stoke Mandeville claim. Ludwig Guttman was not one of the founding fathers of organised physical activity for people with a disability. That honour goes to Eugene Rubens-Alcais with the support from Antoine Dresse.
Eugene Rubens-Alcais is described by his peers as “a man of modest habits who lived in a sparsely furnished and simple attic apartment, a mansard, while he passionately pursued his vision he gave all his time and what he had in working for deaf people and deaf sports.” Another account is “he always lived in relative poverty and died in 1963. His activities did not enrich him (financially) and is a motive furthermore to honour his memory.”
Ludwig Guttman in comparison was a ‘hearing’ person and rose to become an eminent British neurologist, awarded the OBE, CBE and was knighted in 1966.
Two Big Ears requests that British “hearing” society retracts its claim to have ‘invented disability sport’ through their adopted Dr “Poppa” Guttman and we should give due regard and respect with a posthumous honorary award to the earlier achievements of the Frenchman and the Belgian who got there first. Furthermore, a BBC Sports Personality Award should be given to the Deaf Club in Glasgow who 140 years ago, established the first deaf football club in the world in 1871-72.
The Deaflympics is a “silent” deaf voice in a hearing community inspired by “louder” Olympic and Paralympic “hearing” voices. It is time for the majority to listen and accept and properly honour the truth and support its Deaflympians on equal terms with Paralympians. Two Big Ears is not suggesting a merger of the two movements – he will share his ideas in a later blog.
On Monday Two Big Ears will answer the question ‘Why should society recognise and respect the Deaflympics?” Two Big ears will demonstrate that the event is worthy of its equal standing to the Paralympics by using the concepts of “Deaf Gain” and the Social and Medical Models of Disability and the benefits of elite disability sport.
Two Big Ears is now taking a well-earned rest to visit family ‘up north’ and enjoy what promises to be a fantastic finale and Closing Ceremony for the 2012 Paralympics. We will have a light-hearted break from all this heavy philosophical stuff with some weekend-banter and pictures of those who are supporting Two Big Ears.
Goodnight
YOUR BSL VERSION WILL BE HERE SOON
Written by Stuart Harrison
Yesterday Two Big Ears and I looked at how financial prioritization to Olympic and Paralympic sport in the UK has been detrimental to deaf sport whilst in other countries there has been a more equitable approach to recognising elite Deaflympians within sport pathways.
This post is probably the most difficult one for me to write because it will be controversial. I have shared my views privately over the years with colleagues whom I could trust whilst always looking for the opinion of others and evidence that would back up his perspective. This week he has been able to find evidence in an article in The Independent on Sunday by Peter Popham examining the work of Danielle Peers, a Paralympian who now coaches sport and is working on her PhD thesis in disability, sport and human rights at the University of Alberta.
I have long harboured the opinion that people’s perception of disability influences decision makers when thy decide that Paralympians are more deserving of support than Deaflympians because of the “19th century freak show phenomenon“. Deaflympians don’t look freaky.
Peers demonstrates that the Paralympics are ‘sold” to create more profitable versions of the “Games” . Marketing has “drawn on the specific structures, stories and techniques of freak show”.
This appeals to ‘gawking” tendency when promoters focus on tragedy and deformity instead of athletic achievements.
On the opening day of the Paralympics I bought a national newspaper with the entire front and back cover displaying a photograph tightly zoomed in on bladed legs. I doubt that a similar image of Usain Bolt’s legs, would sell news.
I agree with Peers that the Channel 4 ‘superhuman Paralympians’ video “showing a car flipping and a worried pregnant woman reinforced disability as tragic and horrible.” And I would like to add that no superhuman Learning Disabled athletes are in the video, they are outwardly ‘normal’ – so not marketable.
Deafness is a “hidden” disability and cannot compete for government funding or media coverage in the same way because people do not see Deaflympians as being any different to able-bodied athletes and therefore in 2009 did not challenge the Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe MP, when he argued that Deaf athletes are not discriminated against because they (are normal) and can compete in the Olympics like Antonio Ally. You cannot ‘focus’ on the bodies of Deaflympians as a “problem”.
The huge amount of negativity aimed at a BBC blog written yesterday featuring the views of the International Committee of Sport for the Deaf ICSD, illustrates public misconceptions very clearly
Popham concludes his article with “Disability like racism, is in the eye of the beholder. And while a handful of superb athletes are put on a pedestal, the grinding lives of the majority go on as before.”
Tomorrow’s third part will look at the philosophies behind the formation of the “Silent Games” in 1924 and the “Stoke Mandeville games” of 1948 and how “history” has been written in a way that influences people to treat Deaflympians differently.
You can read Peter Popham’s article about Danielle Peers here
Two Big Ears was working early this morning at BNI Hinckley, pleased to hear that some members have been following the blog. Thank you!
Two Big Ears is taking a coffee break from work routine. Checked the Just Giving page.
Two Big Ears had a go at Stuart Harrison and told him that he was not setting a good example by not making a donation!
Thank you to Stuart for donating !
A big thank you to Wendy (donated 31/8/12 on day 3 of the campaign) we don’t know if it was because of Two Big Ears, but thank you.
A big well done to Lisa, Nathan and Joel who needed no motivation at all over two years ago THANK YOU.
In the past 48 hours we have had 52 views an hour on this blog. Brilliant !
Why not show your support this time and make a donation.
In theory, with £10 donations visitors could have all raised over £2,000 in the past 48 hours.
Two Big Ears wants to know what would make you change your mind and donate ?
Two Big Ears is looking out for your reply!
Sorry no BSL version for this post. Coffee break over back to work!
In July this year, Craig Crowley MBE, President of the International Committee of Sport for the Deaf (ICSD) said that it was “bittersweet” that London was hosting the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics because deaf sport has become more isolated in recent years.
Seven years ago, Dame Kelly Holmes was screaming and punching the air in Trafalgar Square on hearing the news that London had won the IOC vote to host the Olympic and Paralympics. At that moment, Craig and I shared a dream that the Deaflympics was at last going to get some recognition here in the UK.
That morning I was giving a presentation at Oak Lodge School for the Deaf in South London, our Deaflympic gold medalist Joanne Davison was with me as we spoke to the children about the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne and how Joanne won her medal. I even took the opportunity to announce that London had won the 2012 bid – the whole school erupted in joy – along with the rest of the country. But our nightmare was just beginning.
In 2005, UK Deaf Sport was on a high, returning from a very successful Deaflympics in Melbourne and working closer towards the targets that we had set ourselves with the financial support from UK Sport. We were confident that with comparatively smaller funding than the Paralympians we were going to continue improving for Taiwan 2009 and beyond.
In 2008, UK Sport announced that the Deaflympics were not going to feature in their seven-year plan for 2012. Along with nine sports, UK Deaf Sports funding ceased.
Personally I could understand why they had to cut nine sports in favour of others. But UK Deaf Sport is not a single sport. To treat the whole of the UK deaf sports landscape in that way not only affected sport, It affected the deaf community as a whole. That community anger and bewilderment is still simmering today – evident in comments made in various media
UK Deaf Sport challenged the decision at UK Sport Resolution but it was rejected and the organisation could not continue with an appeal because it did not have the financial capacity to do so.
Deaflympian, Oliver Monksfield took the issue up with his local MP, Ian Duncan Smith, who raised the matter in Westminster Hall on 16th June 2009 and asked the Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe to reply. Sutcliffe argued that:
“UK Sport’s policy does not discriminate against deaf people or hard of hearing athletes. Deaf athletes who meet the criteria for UK Sports world-class performance programme in either Olympic or Paralympic sport will be supported. There are currently three athletes in the programme who are deaf or have declared a hearing impairment. In the past, the programme included Antonio Ally who competed in the 2004 Olympics. “
In reality what they are funding is a two-tier performance pathway. The Paralympics feeding into the Olympics. Long before Oscar Pistorius there was Catherine Du Toit moving up from Paralympic to Olympic swimming. We almost had our own Paralympian Sarah Storey break into the GB Olympic cycling squad – this only happened because funding is available for Paralympians. It is most likely that more Deaflympians would break into the Olympic teams if there was funding in place for them. The argument goes, that if Antonio Ally can get into an Olympic team, then there is no need to fund Sarah for the Paralympics because like Antonio she does not need it. Of course she does, and so do our Deaflympic athletes.
The UK government wants to see Deaflympians compete in the Paralympics. But that is not going to happen just yet, it is not a decision for UK Deaf Sport to make. It is up to the realms of the IPC and ICSD to work out a solution. So in the meantime they need to fund the GB Deaflympics team, it will cost less than 1% of the GB Paralympic budget to send a full Deaflympics team to Sofia in 2013.
This first part has all been about Deaflympians being treated differently by money and financial priorities. Tomorrow is the second part – other reasons why Deaflympians are treated so differently.
Two Big Ears has not been out and about very much today because at the behest of readers of this blog, Two Big Ears has been creating BSL versions to go alongside the written word. Please be patient with Two Big Ears whilst we find time to bring the BSL videos up to date.
Current videos are: Big Ears is Born, Opening Ceremonies, Ear we go and Batty at the Belfry
Liz Jones has created a storm of responses to her article in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday “I’m Profoundly deaf, so why cant I be in the Paralympics?” Readers were challenging her claims about being Profoundly deaf, or criticising her lack of research on the subject of deaf sport. Others wondering why deaf sport was not doing enough to get into the Paralympics and others had commented on the “invisibility” of Deafness.
Two Big Ears raises public awareness that by remaining “hidden”, deaf people continue to “Get a raw deal.”
For those who think Deaf sport should be doing more to work with the Paralympic movement. I can bring everyone up to speed with the relationship between ICSD (Deaflympics) and IPC (Paralympics).
The ICSD was admitted into the IOC in 1955 as an International Federation with Olympic Standing. The Olympic flag has flown alongside the Deaflympic flag since 1985.
By the 1990s it was becoming increasingly more expensive to host the Deaflympics and to participate in them. Therefore at the behest of its international membership, the ICSD approached the IPC to examine the possibility of joining the IPC to help reduce costs, but also to take advantage of the high public profile that the Paralympics were attracting. The IOC was also keen for this partnership to take place.
However, because of the communication requirements of Deaflympians, the prohibitive costs to the IPC of providing sign language interpreters and the inability of the Paralympic games to accommodate the growing number of Deaflympians, the ICSD took the decision to withdraw its membership from the IPC. Other reasons for withdrawing were that the ICSD could not support the elimination of the number of sporting events that would be offered to deaf athletes.
In November 2004, the IPC and ICSD signed a memorandum of understanding in the hope of creating a collaborative landscape in international competition and a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities as separate organisations. Through the MOU, ICSD and its members , including UK Deaf Sport encourages deaf athletes with additional disabilities to compete in IPC events and conversely multi-disabled athletes who are deaf to compete in Deaf World Championships. In addition, the agreement was also to mutually recognise each others autonomy as organisations and co-operating to address conflicts between affiliated organisations.
However, there is still some way to go before Paralympians like this week’s Equestrian bronze medalist Laurentia Tan, a deaf woman with Cerebral Palsy will feel fully included in the Paralympic Games. A couple of months ago, I exchanged emails with Laurentia and asked her to describe the Paralympics from a deaf persons perspective. Now, for the record,we are talking about someone who requires BSL interpreters.
“Yes, I was an individual rider but now we have a team of para riders so there is a bigger number of people involved. Since we now have a team of para riders, I have booked interpreters to accompany me to all international competitions and it has really made a positive difference to my experience. However, my parents and I have had to pay interpreters’ fees, and I am trying to sort out sponsorship / funding for this.
I also remember during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, when I joined the rest of the Singapore Team (i.e. swimmers, athletics, sailors and other Team officials) I found it really difficult to understand what was going on and had to rely on my parents and coach to help with communication.
I have explained to my National Federation (Singapore) about needing a ‘team’ of interpreters so that they can work to cover the whole period required. I also know how difficult it is to book interpreters so it is possible I will require a ‘team’ of interpreters. However, I am aware that there are only so many places for accreditation and I was wondering if LOCOG will be able to assist in sorting out accreditation for the ‘team’ of interpreters to ensure that I have an interpreter with me for the required period.”
Unfortunately, when UK Deaf Sport got in contact with LOCOG (indirectly through intermediaries), they were told that this was not a GB issue and that LT needed to take it up with the Singapore Paralympic Association.
Now, at the time, I thought that was a fair enough reason to give. After all its bad enough that EDF Energy customers here in the UK were funding French athletes to win Olympic gold medals! Until one day, I was watching the Olympic Taekwondo on TV and there we could see, “british” volunteers massaging and applying ice packs to non-GB players during time out periods. Surely it was not too much for LOCOG to accommodate LaurentiaNational Lottery’s needs in the same way?
Looking back at the attempts by ICSD to merge into the IPC in the 1990s. Things were very different in those days. John Major was just about to fund sport via the National Lottery and the Paralympics were still relatively unknown. So, perhaps its time to have another meet at the table. Other major disability groups now have their own multi-event World Games which feed into the Paralympics. Perhaps this is now time for Deaflympians to try and do the same?
It has been suggested that ICSD try and negotiate for a small number of sports to be included in the Paralympics and then have the Deaflympics as a feeder event but because it was recognised as part of the Paralympic pathway and family it will make it easier to attract sponsorship etc and that Deaflympians can become part of the UK performance elite. perhaps it could also explore the inclusion of a hard of hearing classification alongside the 55dB threshold, that we discussed yesterday?
In 2005 UKDS lost its Deaflympic funding from the government in order for it to enable the country to prepare of the 2012 Paralympics. UKDS argued that GB Deaflympians were being discriminated against in favour of others. Iain Duncan Smith raised a debate in the House of Commons and the government of the day (Labour) argued that it was not discriminating against deaf people and used the example of Antonio Ally, a british deaf diver being able to compete at Olympic level and gain lottery support. We will discuss this further tomorrow.
Yesterday, whilst we were out, Two Big Ears II asked me if her shoes were suitable to wear out in public. I took one look at her feet and then pointed to her Two Big Ears. “You are quite comfortable to be seen in public wearing Two Big Ears and your worrying about your shoes?”. Joanne has become quite attached to her Two Big Ears. We met people in Fosse Park, Leicester today and handed out ten Introductions
Don’t forget to make a contribution to help the GB Deaflympic team
Sunday 2nd September:
BSL HERE
As Vice Chair of UK Deaf Sport, I deal with many emails on a daily basis asking for advice, offering opinions etc on deaf sport. I am currently involved in a discussion with some deaf athletes over the validity of the 55dB rule. In the Deaflympics, all competitiors must have a hearing loss of 55dB in their better ear. The argument is that this threshold is too high and should be lowered to 35dB.
I started drafting this blog earlier this afternoon using the story of GB Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds winning gold on Saturday in the S6 400m freestyle against the American Victoria Arlen who was declared ineligible after tests suggested that she was not disabled enough. The US appealed and Arlen was reinstated.
By coincidence, as I was putting finishing touches to this blog, I have just watched Alan Oliviaria fly past Oscar Pistorius in the T43/T44 200m final. Pistorius was well ahead with about 75m to go and then Oliveria glided past him to win. Mondays news headlines will be “Has Oliveria cheated?”
Joanne, my number two Two Big Ears has pointed out that the other runners in the race with one normal leg are unable to change the length of their blades, suggesting that the IPC need to tighten up the rules.
Many deaf sportsmen and women will have their jaws on the floor at the suggestion of lowering to 35dB – as it was also my immediate reaction earlier this week when I read the emails coming through my in-box. However, I am open to suggestions and asked the 35dB campaigners to give me evidence/reasoning to support their case.
The arguments for 35dB :
a) Is there scientific evidence to back up the rationale for 55dB ?.
b) Deaf sport is struggling to attract more athletes to events, the small turnouts would be increased by lowering to 35dB. In some sports, countries are unable to field teams as they cannot find enough elite athletes at 55dB.
c) Deaf sport at 55dB is struggling to attract commercial sponsors because it is not reflecting a large enough market.
d) Deaf sport could be like the Paralympics with different classes of difficulty such as in the 200m race this evening with T43 and T44 athletes.
e) In deaf sport athletes are not allowed to wear their hearing aids or cochlear implants during competition, in order to level the playing field and not give anyone an advantage through technology. Quite the opposite to the 200m race tonight, where people are taking advantage of technology to go faster. Deaf people should be allowed to take advantage of either wearing or removing technology, a personal choice.
The arguments for 55dB :
a) Lowering the threshold would allow non-signing athletes into the sport and because sign language users are in the minority, the problems of communication would soon mirror daily life as more and more partially-hearing people get involved and the profoundly deaf are marginalised. Disempowering those for whom deaf sport is organised.
b) The original games in 1924 The Silent Games were conceived by a Frenchman and a Belgian, both deaf sportsmen, who wanted to make a stand against societal misconception of deafness of the day. Unfortunately, despite many advances, Deafness remains a hidden disability and greatly misunderstood.
c) Many disabled people are excluded from the Paralympic games because of the classifications system. They do not mirror the social model of disability. They do not empower severely disabled people. By maintaining a higher threshold of 55dB, deaf sport is safeguarding opportunities for deaf people who are marginalised in life. Deaf sport is empowering and ‘hearing” society has much to learn from this.
d) Deaf sport is managed, lead by deaf people for deaf people and therefore truly empowering not only for athletes but for officials and volunteers who also have minimal opportunity in mainstream sport. The 55dB threshold is a self-imposed rule and not by “hearing” society.
What do you think?
Channel 4 “The Last leg with Adam Hills” they are all saying that “disabled” is outdated. They are not considering that technology, classifications, running guides etc make it easier and possible to perform at your very best and within the rules of Paralympic sport. Unfortunately the rest of the planet is not set up in the same way so the war veterans breaking Paralympic records cannot be ordered to go back to another tour in Afghanistan because they are disabled.
In the Deaflympic games there are no communication barriers, this empowers deaf people who experience the Olympic ideals in a way that would be impossible in the Paralympics or Olympics. More on this tomorrow – when I discuss the case of deaf athletes who have won medals in the Olympics and the Paralympics.
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Finally, before I sign off, thank you to Rita and all her colleagues at Furniture Village, J9 Retail Park, Wednesbury for taking a keen interest in Two Big Ears. Rita took two copies of the Introduction – one for herself and the other to post on the staff kitchen. Thank you for your support.
Two Big Ears 