Disability Rights in Asian Para Games

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Badminton men\'s singles athlete in SU5 classification Suryo Nugroho (left) trains for the 2018 Asian Para Games at Sritex Arena Sports Hall, Solo, Central Java, Wednesday (19/09/2018).

Person with disability; Secretary, Center of Disability Studies and Services, Brawijaya University

The 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta on Oct. 6-13 is part of Asia’s largest multisport event, the Asian Games.

This is a highly important event. Its successful organization will raise national pride. In contrast, failure in its organization, especially in ensuring proper facilities and services for persons with disabilities, will be a humiliation.

The Asian Para Games (APG) was first held as part of the 2010 Asian Games (Asiad) in Guangzhou, China. The tradition continued in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea, and the event is again being held in Jakarta this year. Before it was renamed the Asian Para Games, the multisport event for disabled athletes was known as the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, or FESPIC Games, which was held nine times between 1975 and 2006. The final FESPIC Games was held in Kuala Lumpur.

The development able-bodied and disabled games, such as the Asiad and the APG, the Olympics and the Paralympics, and the SEA Games and the ASEAN Para Games, has been driven by a spirit of inclusivity. People with disabilities were seen to have the same rights and opportunities as non-able-bodied people and therefore, disabled athletes must also be given the space to compete in sports. A question may thus emerge: Why don’t we just combine disabled and non-disabled games? Why must there be a separate event if we wish to foster equality and inclusivity?

The Greek word para means “beside” (as in “another side”), the APG is essentially another side to the Asiad. It is impossible to have disabled and non-disabled athletes compete against one another. This is similar to the nonsensicality of a horse and a rabbit racing against each other, or a snail and a deer competing against each other. These animals have different physical structures and movements. One of the basic principles of inclusivity, aside from acceptance, is equality – which means challenging each individual in accordance with their inherent capabilities.

Understanding disability

As was implicitly stated in the stunning opening ceremony, the 2018 Asian Games aimed to celebrate diversity, the diversity of cultures, ethnicities, religions and other aspects one finds across Asia.

Nevertheless, the 2018 Asian Games opening ceremony only emphasized religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. Disability, an important element in Indonesian society, was absent from the grand ceremony, even though people with disabilities were an important part of the celebration. To truly drive home a message of inclusivity that includes people with disabilities, the opening and closing ceremonies of the Asiad and the APG should have been combined.

Disabled and non-disabled athletes are different only in sports. They still belong together and there is no need to separate them. Their presence as part of the collaborative art performances in the ceremonies would have delivered a powerful message of inclusivity and expanded the meaning and significance of art, which has primarily been the “dominion” of non-/.

The APG has become incredibly important, especially in the movement to achieve equal rights for the disabled. Interpreting and conceptualizing “disability” through the APG is critical, as the APG’s organization will affect how disability is viewed.

For centuries, the disabled have been seen as sick, weak and powerless, and as a kind of social disease. Such medical standpoints have dominated the way people with disabilities are seen. Many conceptualize disabilities as the result of personal tragedies. Consequently, when a person develops a disability, this is seen as nothing more than a personal matter. The disabled persons are seen as having illnesses or being the victims of unfortunate tragedies; they need help and pity, because they are weak and powerless. More specifically, a person’s disability is often seen as a tragedy that has befallen a single person: It does not have a social dimension.

Another dominant view is that people with disabilities are “special”. The New Order provided a segregated school for the disabled called “special schools” (sekolah luar biasa; SLB). “Special” in this context can be interpreted to inherently mean “unusual” or “abnormal”. The “supercrip” stereotype is a powerful one, especially in matters related to disabled persons’ achievements in sports and arts. Whatever a disabled person does or creates is seen as amazing and extraordinary.

Since the 1970s, disability rights activists all over the world, especially in the UK, have criticized such deep-seated and outdated views on disabilities. So they introduced a social perspective that viewed “the disabled” as a consequence of social processes: the concept of “disabled” was nothing more than an oppressive social construct, with disabilities viewed as “deformities” (Oliver, 1995).

‘Objects of inspiration’

The APG is highly significant for the disability rights movement, especially in spreading public awareness on accepting differences. However, such efforts often transform into applying the principle of “the other” to people with disabilities by positioning them as nothing more than “objects of inspiration”. This can be seen, at the very least, in how the government is promoting the APG through the media, including social media.

A video shows President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla saying that people with disabilities were an inspiration for Asia. Furthermore, the APG’s slogan is “The Inspiring Spirit and Energy of Asia”. Among the popular hashtags on the 2018 APG’s social media channel is #parainspirasi (#parainspiration).

This view of disabled persons as inspiration traces its roots to the view of people with disabilities as weak beings incapable of doing “normal” things. Thus, whenever people with disabilities do things that non-disabled people regularly do, it is “special”. This often results in expressions of astonishment among non-disabled people, including: “Look at her. Even with her disabilities, she can make it”, “It’s truly inspiring how, even without feet, she can be a champion”, and so on.

The APG should be an exemplary medium for spreading messages of inclusivity for people with disabilities. However, the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta stinks of “inspiration porn”. The Asiad and the APG should celebrate social diversity and promote the importance of public literacy in inclusivity issues. The Asian Para Games is the appropriate platform for teaching the people that

people with disabilities are the same as anyone else, and that all should simply accept them as part of our diverse society instead of showering them with exaggerated praise.