President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons has called on Jamaicans to change their views on athletes with disabilities.
Parsons, the IPC president since 2017, met with stakeholders, athletes, educational institutions, and government officials about the status of paralympic sports during a visit that began on Sunday and ended yesterday.
“The idea is to change the perception of Jamaican society towards persons with disabilities. When you change the perception is when you can start changing reality. Give or take, 15 per cent of the population of many countries is made up of persons with a disability,” Parsons told The Gleaner.
“I think if they are not included into society, even from a business perspective (if you’re excluding 15 per cent of your population) it is a bad business decision. We decided to highlight this fact because in sport, we removed the barriers at the Paralympic Games, and we let the athletes excel,” added Parsons.
According to Parsons, the aim is to integrate para-athletes into the Jamaican society through sport and through investment in para sports.
“When they excel, it’s incredible. They inspire the world, and so they win medals. We wanted to show to the world or to every society, including Jamaica, that if you remove the barriers in the employment area, in the educational area, in policymaking, in everything, they can excel,” Parsons said.
“Of course, in order to do that, we need a high-performance aspect. We need the athletes that will fight for gold, silver, and bronze to break records. I think Jamaica is a successful country when it comes to para-athletics, but there’s room for improvement,” he added.
Parsons, a native of Brazil, was re-elected in December 2021 and is a former president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.
Since their debut in 1968 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jamaicans have claimed 55 medals overall at the Paralympic Games. These include 21 gold, 16 silver, and 18 bronze.
President of the Jamaica Paralympic Association, Christopher Samuda, said an educational campaign would tackle social perceptions towards disabled athletes, among other issues.
“We have to, of course, ramp up the education campaign. We are battling against social perceptions. It is still a perception in our society that those who are ‘able with a difference’ should not participate in certain sporting activities or should not be given opportunities in leadership roles,” said Samuda.
“We have to battle that cultural perception, and we have been doing that through our campaign ‘I Am Phenomenal’. We rolled it out not only to aid persons ‘able with a difference’, but also persons who are able-bodied,” Samuda added.
Asoysona Campbell, a track paralympic athlete, said she has struggled with persons’ perception of her being disabled and being involved in sports.
“If I do sports, some people say you can’t do it. Even if I told them I will try, they say I can’t do it. They tell me that I have a disability but I don’t make it bother me any more. It used to bother me, but it just feels normal now,” Campbell said.
After being involved in paralympic sports for over a year, Campbell has represented Jamaica once at an event for para-athletes. She has encouraged other athletes, like her, to hold their heads up despite negative comments.
“I am encouraging them not to give up. They can do what they want to do even if they’re not athletes and they have a disability. Don’t let anything stop them from what they want to do,” Campbell said.
