Celebrating Everyone's Ability

One of my favorite scenes in the movie The Greatest Showman is actually towards the beginning, when P.T. Barnum hears Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady, signing, pulls back the curtain she's hiding behind and calls her "beautiful" and "extraordinary."  As the movie progresses, Lettie and the other circus performers gain confidence and acceptance.  (That's what the entire song "This Is Me" is about.)  Even the skeptical newspaper reporter calls it a "celebration of humanity."  It really is such a beautiful message.

I bring up The Greatest Showman because I see a lot of parallels between that movie and the Paralympics, which just concluded in Paris.  As the Paralympics progressed, that's what stood out to me more than anything.  I was absolutely in awe of their athletic ability.  Of course.  Who wouldn't be?  But that's not what inspired me the most.  It was their stories.

Take Iran's Morteza Mehrzad.  At 8-foot-1, he's the second-tallest man in the world.  Much like the fictional Lettie Lutz (who was based on a real person), he was embarrassed by his extreme height, especially after a bicycle accident that caused his right leg to stop growing, leaving it 15 centimeters shorter than his left.  For years after the accident, Mehrzad mainly kept to himself and rarely left his house.  Then he appeared on a TV show about people with unusual and different talents in 2011, which completely changed his life.

Hadi Rezaei, the coach of Iran's national sitting volleyball team, was watching the TV program and called the network, hoping they could put him in touch with Mehrzad.  They did, and Rezaei eventually convinced Mehrzad to try sitting volleyball.  He joined the national team prior to the 2016 Paralympics and is now a three-time gold medalist.  Mehrzad is also recognized as one of the best sitting volleyball players in the world and is a three-time world player of the year. 

As you'd expect, Mehrzad towers over both his teammates and his opponents.  Suddenly, being 8-feet tall wasn't a cause of embarrassment.  Instead, it was an incredible asset.  Morteza Mehrzad is at home on a sitting volleyball court.  His sport didn't just give him a purpose.  It gave him a new lease on life.

While there weren't any other 8-footers competing in Paris, Mehrzad's story is far from unique.  His is just one of many inspirational journeys to the Paralympics.  A lot of those tales are similar, too.  They found their sport and it changed everything for them.

That, I think, is my favorite thing about the Paralympics.  Approximately 15 percent of the world's population has some sort of disability.  That's more than a billion people worldwide.  The Paralympics show those people doing extraordinary things.  Outside of the Paralympics, how often do they get such a spotlight?  A spotlight that shows what disabled people are capable of.  A spotlight that inspires younger people of all abilities, showing them that the only limitations they face are the ones they put on themselves. 

And, I think this one is just as important, if not more so, shows that Paralympians are, by and large, just regular people.  They're elite athletes.  Same as Olympians.  They put in just as much work as their able-bodied counterparts.  Literally the only difference is that Paralympians have gotten where they are despite having a physical disability and overcoming the limitations that presents.  Frankly, what they've done is often times more impressive because of everything they've had to overcome.

Matt Stutzman was born without arms.  So, he uses his legs for most activities, including archery.  Known as the "Armless Archer," he's a five-time Paralympian who won his first career gold medal in Paris.  Hunter Woodhall's a double amputee.  His wife, Tara, won the women's long jump at the Olympics.  He picked up his own gold medal in Paris at the Paralympics.  Those are just two of the names who won gold medals in Paris.

From Jessica Long to Tatyana McFadden, there are also plenty of Paralympians who've become household names.  That's something nobody would've expected even a decade ago.  Heading into LA, there will only be more.  Ezra Frech is from LA and won two gold medals in Paris.  You can bet he'll be one of the faces leading up to his home Paralympics four years from now.  Frech will also be a freshman on the track & field team at South Carolina this season, the latest Paralympian who's earned a scholarship with an able-bodied NCAA program.

If you watch the Paralympics, too, it's sometimes easy to forget that these athletes are disabled.  I mean, sometimes it's obvious.  If they're using a wheelchair or have a prosthetic limb, you can't miss it.  But, once the competition gets going, it's just like you're watching any other game or race.

The Paralympics aren't and will never be the Olympics.  They aren't supposed to be.  The Olympics are a two-and-a-half-week spectacle featuring the greatest athletes in the world at the height of their powers.  The Paralympics are about equality and representation.  They're also about showing that disabled athletes are just as capable of putting on a show as their able-bodied counterparts.

It's in the host city contract that the city that organizes the Olympics also takes on the responsibility of hosting the Paralympics, as well.  They use many of the same venues for both events.  Networks are also required to cover the Paralympics as part of Olympic broadcast contracts.  Which has raised the profile of the Paralympics exponentially!  If not for that, how many of these stories would we know?

After the outstanding show that was the Paris Olympics, they presented a Paralympics that were just as spectacular!  A Paralympics that, once again, served to inspire the world with these amazing athletes and their incredible stories.  Which is the best thing about the Paralympics!  If you don't believe me, watch the 2028 Paralympics and find out!