Speaker 1: There's a young boy woman. Dastick was cut up from
Speaker 1: a surgery prosthetic picks purgery, telling me I'm normal, but normal.
Speaker 1: They never really make see they are always painting, discriminated
Speaker 1: but livitated. I think the Paralympic Games can and Paralympic
Speaker 1: athletes can show the potential for people with disabilities, you know,
Speaker 1: and just how incredible they can be in what they
Speaker 1: can do. He gets a good one is achsaros pro
Speaker 1: sids go wo. Then we talks intense Passaurus started to
Speaker 1: each other, but just gotta brea talk. We don't take
Speaker 1: the doss. Brown takes the sales off in the unted stays.
Speaker 1: I remember going into the Paralympic Athletics Day one morning session.
Speaker 1: I'm walking out and just go this is amazing, And
Speaker 1: there it is the coach jumpstairs feet. Their celebrations are
Speaker 1: just incredible, as incredible as that performance. The nineteen year
Speaker 1: old France nis in Italy. Just doesn't know what to
Speaker 1: do with ourselves h M. The Writing Phoenix project began
Speaker 1: when the documentary Rising Phoenix was released on Netflix in
Speaker 1: August of This was the date the Paralympics were originally
Speaker 1: due to start. The documentary tells the history of the
Speaker 1: Paralympic Games, which has grown to become one of the
Speaker 1: world's largest sporting events. Do you use don't you believe?
Speaker 1: We'll try to gain the outside is done it again.
Speaker 1: We are nice quite quite news tonight. It was one
Speaker 1: of the most popular films released on Netflix in its
Speaker 1: opening weekend, and it triggered an incredible discussion about disability
Speaker 1: all around the world. Paralympic sport is a catalyst for change.
Speaker 1: It challenges how we perceive disabled people and provide a
Speaker 1: global stage to build a community. But what happens after
Speaker 1: the games when athletes return home to truly create an
Speaker 1: accessible and equitable world, a place where everyone feels safe
Speaker 1: and is encouraged to be themselves. We have work to do.
Speaker 1: We have to change the law, transformed culture, rebuild our cities,
Speaker 1: increased visibility, and to do so, we must empower everyone
Speaker 1: to be involved. Over the next five episodes, you're going
Speaker 1: to hear from activists and policy makers, athletes and allies
Speaker 1: from around the world as we listen to what they
Speaker 1: think of where this movement and where the story of
Speaker 1: this movement needs to go next. I'm Sophie Morgan. This
Speaker 1: is equal to episode one, the change we made. If
Speaker 1: you want to follow the equal two story and join
Speaker 1: the conversation hashtag equal to, go to our website ht
Speaker 1: Whitey dot world, where you will also find the transcript
Speaker 1: and video versions of the podcast, along with subtitles and
Speaker 1: a b Sell signed version in the coming days. The
Speaker 1: Paralympics is a phenomenal sporting event. It has the power
Speaker 1: to change lives. As a wheelchair user myself, for example,
Speaker 1: the twelve Games in London opened the door to me
Speaker 1: becoming one of the first female disabled television hosts in
Speaker 1: the world. The games showcase disabled athletes at an elite
Speaker 1: level and allows spectators to see what disabled sports people
Speaker 1: can achieve. Eve But the rise of the Paralympic Games
Speaker 1: has not been straightforward. Some games have been incredible, so
Speaker 1: finally the sun was setting on London's glorious summer of
Speaker 1: sport that they were going to go out with a bang.
Speaker 1: We have already espoished by the triumphs and drama the Paralympics.
Speaker 1: Some not so good Riaralympic Games are getting underway for
Speaker 1: many of the athletes involved, though the road tario has
Speaker 1: involved more than just hard work and determination. Questions have
Speaker 1: again been raised over whether the host city is ready.
Speaker 1: It's an extraordinary story with many twists and turns, and
Speaker 1: it all began with a vision from one man, the
Speaker 1: founder of the Games, Sir Ludwig Gutman. He's the doctor
Speaker 1: who has forced paralyzed people to walk, laugh, argue, earn wagers,
Speaker 1: run up debts. So how did the Games evolved from
Speaker 1: Gutman's artery competition to the event we now know? Dame
Speaker 1: Tanny A. Thompson is one of the most celebrated Paralympians
Speaker 1: and politicians in the UK. I asked her to give
Speaker 1: me a quick overview of the progression of the Paralympics.
Speaker 1: Arm and Bright Thompson of Bright Brittany, the running parall
Speaker 1: A brit when world read World Harder, there's going to
Speaker 1: really have red three years in a row or pretty
Speaker 1: Paralympics in a lively tossed Arnod stride Segon so in
Speaker 1: uh the first Games in Rome in n six kind
Speaker 1: of sat alongside the Olympics, and then there were games
Speaker 1: that then happened in the same country but not in
Speaker 1: the same city. H and then you know what should
Speaker 1: have been the Games in Moscow? The governments that they
Speaker 1: didn't have any disabled people, So the Paralympics went to
Speaker 1: Arnam and then it was kind of quite interesting. So
Speaker 1: four the game split, so the wheelchair users went to Stoke,
Speaker 1: Mandible and everything else went to New York because l
Speaker 1: A that was meant to host the Paralympics then decided
Speaker 1: not to so a t A which you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think, you know, I was sort of right on
Speaker 1: the edges of the politics support. Then it was a
Speaker 1: massive step forward because even in Korea, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of discrimination against disabled people indoor thought you're
Speaker 1: the only done kind of doubt. So my first games
Speaker 1: were sold and it was interesting. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: the first time that we'd had a Paralympics that sat
Speaker 1: alongside the Olympics. We had the same kit, although not
Speaker 1: the same amount of kit, and the Olympians um and
Speaker 1: it felt like it was a massive step forward and
Speaker 1: a real turning point, which it was quite exciting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Barcelona Games took the baton from Seoul and they created
Speaker 1: a dramatic shift in how the games were produced and
Speaker 1: how they were communicated. Many say the beginnings of the
Speaker 1: modern Paralympic Games were born in Barcelona. It felt like
Speaker 1: it was just massive step forward in terms of the
Speaker 1: games and where it was going to sit alongside the Olympics.
Speaker 1: We have really big crowds um at the Paralympics, and
Speaker 1: I think one of the sad things is people sort
Speaker 1: of forget Barcelona and what a sort of a watershed
Speaker 1: moment it was, because then Atlanta, Sydnely, Athens beyond, you know,
Speaker 1: there weren't massive crowds. But actually for Barcelona there was
Speaker 1: a really really good atmosphere in the city, uh and
Speaker 1: around Olympic Park, you know, swimming pools packed, the athletics
Speaker 1: was really full evening sessions UM and that that was
Speaker 1: quite exciting sort of step forward again. Those crowds helped
Speaker 1: propelled Tanny to a massive five metal performance that summer
Speaker 1: in Spain. But long before Tanny had touched down in Barcelona,
Speaker 1: countless hours of planning and preparation had gone into in
Speaker 1: shuring that the event would be ready for the world stage.
Speaker 1: The International Paralympic Committee or i p C, has been
Speaker 1: in charge of ensuring the successful delivery and organization of
Speaker 1: the Paralympic Games since it was founded in nine. Zavie
Speaker 1: Gonzalez of Spain was CEO at the i p C
Speaker 1: from two thousand and four until he retired in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nineteen. He was a pivotal figure in the
Speaker 1: Barcelona Games. Zavy tells me about what happened when I
Speaker 1: was called to see if I was interested in enjoined
Speaker 1: the Paralympic Games. My reaction was, Bara, what one think
Speaker 1: that we did in Barcelona? I think that's what really
Speaker 1: was there. The foundation of the success is that we
Speaker 1: from the beginning created the alleleads and treated the event
Speaker 1: as as an event, and we didn't really looking through
Speaker 1: so much the disability. We needed to organize a very
Speaker 1: good event, needed to be similar to the Olympics as
Speaker 1: much as we could, and we knew that the Allies
Speaker 1: were going to come. The Allies will will require that
Speaker 1: level of sophistication and preparations. Gordi Eta. If they will
Speaker 1: see Baiqual and shall pat with the should see Plin
Speaker 1: Shendicho joined the cartoon one. Then the Games went to
Speaker 1: China for the first time, and the Beijing Games in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight was yet another milestone for the event,
Speaker 1: impacting the lives of China's eighty three million disabled people
Speaker 1: for the better before the Games, the country was comparatively inaccessible,
Speaker 1: but as Zavvy remembers, that soon changed. I think what
Speaker 1: the real change happened or become visible. That's probably more
Speaker 1: more fair to say it became visible was one the
Speaker 1: President of China. I think it was called hug Intao
Speaker 1: at the time, the declare that the Olympics and the
Speaker 1: Paralympics are going to be games of equalis splendor. And
Speaker 1: this time the games even managed to change the law.
Speaker 1: Just weeks before the Paralympics began in Beijing, the revised
Speaker 1: Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection
Speaker 1: of People with the Disability came into force to protect
Speaker 1: the rights of disabled people. The law meant that the
Speaker 1: state and society had to improve accessible facilities and promote
Speaker 1: accessible information. History was made. I guess that, in a
Speaker 1: nutshell is the power of sport, the power of the
Speaker 1: Paralympic Games, not just to move us, but to change us.
Speaker 1: The movement was growing, and then in the Games arrived
Speaker 1: in London. Yeah, I remember going into the Paralympic Athletics
Speaker 1: day one morning session. I'm walking out and just going
Speaker 1: this is amazing. Investment in the Games was key to
Speaker 1: their success. But this investment wasn't just to improve infrastructure
Speaker 1: and access, but to amplify and ignite conversations too. For
Speaker 1: the London Twelve Games, one stakeholder who rose to the
Speaker 1: challenge was the UK's most progressive and some might say
Speaker 1: disruptive broadcaster, Channel Four. For any of us, I think
Speaker 1: that we're lucky enough to be involved in London and
Speaker 1: just to be involved with the Paralympic movement. It's been
Speaker 1: that's the best thing that's happened in our working lives.
Speaker 1: Yes I can, suddenly, yes I can, Gee, I'm afraid
Speaker 1: to go on has turned into yes I can. Take
Speaker 1: That was Dan Brook, who was the chief marketing and
Speaker 1: Communications officer of Channel four at the time of the
Speaker 1: Twelve Games. TV coverage of the Paralympics had always been
Speaker 1: done by the world renowned BBC, who also broadcast the Olympics.
Speaker 1: But spotting an opportunity to give the Paralympics its own
Speaker 1: stage and to center the narratives of athletes themselves, Channel
Speaker 1: four won the television rights to broadcast for the Paralympics.
Speaker 1: That was an incredibly brave decision because saying no to
Speaker 1: the BBC is like saying no to the Queen. Channel
Speaker 1: four sought to do something that nobody had ever achieved
Speaker 1: before in the history of the Paralympics, to present it
Speaker 1: to the world on a stage as big as and
Speaker 1: equal to the Olympics. That was exactly what founder Ludwig
Speaker 1: Gutman had always wanted, which is why he named the
Speaker 1: games the para Olympics, which means parallel or equal to.
Speaker 1: Channel four were finally going to realize Gutman's dream. Dan
Speaker 1: and his team came up with a revolutionary idea. We
Speaker 1: were talking and saying to ourselves that the portrayal of
Speaker 1: people disabilities in popular culture. The biggest thing that we
Speaker 1: could think of where disability was portrayed in a positive
Speaker 1: way was the X men um you know, and probably
Speaker 1: should be called the X Men and the X Women.
Speaker 1: Their disability is at the center of what their superpower is.
Speaker 1: That was the basis for for Superhumans. Then on top
Speaker 1: of that, we wanted to give Paralympians the Hollywood treatment,
Speaker 1: the Nike treatment in a way that we felt they'd
Speaker 1: never been given before. So, you know, in the Superhumans
Speaker 1: advert there's amazing production values, and you know, we spent
Speaker 1: a lot of money making sure that athletes looked amazing
Speaker 1: should be on that plane. If you're a Paralympian, your
Speaker 1: your disability is an integral part of your identity and
Speaker 1: indeed of your presence at the Games. So we didn't
Speaker 1: want to shy away from that in a way that
Speaker 1: you know, we felt perhaps before people had m So
Speaker 1: you know, stumps and scars and other aspects of disability
Speaker 1: are presented very proudly in the advert. You know, there's
Speaker 1: this handover period of two and a half weeks between
Speaker 1: the Olympics ending and the Paralympics beginning, and that was
Speaker 1: where marketing got crammed, and we decided, no, we want
Speaker 1: to get this on people's agenda, on their radar, right
Speaker 1: from the start, before the Olympics even begin. So when
Speaker 1: the Olympics ends, there's not people already prepared for the
Speaker 1: fact that there's a second party that's about to occur.
Speaker 1: And that was that was really successful. The other thing
Speaker 1: that we did, which which I loved, were when as
Speaker 1: the Olympics were ended ending, all these massive billboards went
Speaker 1: up all over the country with the Paralympics logo on
Speaker 1: it and the Channel four logo on it, and it
Speaker 1: simply said thanks for the warm up. Channel four broke
Speaker 1: the mold and turned the Games into an event that
Speaker 1: was watched and loved by millions of people. British athletes
Speaker 1: like Johnny Peacock, Ellie Simmons and David Weir became household
Speaker 1: names across the UK began is she going to do it? Then?
Speaker 1: And the twelve Paralympics was also successful in shifting short
Speaker 1: term perceptions on disability, withough the half of people asked
Speaker 1: stating that their view of disability had changed for the better.
Speaker 1: Dan says that one of the really important components of
Speaker 1: the success was the backing of the games by commercial sponsors,
Speaker 1: including one of the UK's largest supermarkets, Sainsbury's. Change occurs
Speaker 1: in two different ways. There's a change that occurs to
Speaker 1: the games and the way that the Games is held
Speaker 1: and put on then by successive cities because you know,
Speaker 1: everyone's this is sport, everyone's competitive, right, you want to
Speaker 1: put on the games that was better than the ones before,
Speaker 1: So you know, London has now become the new benchmark
Speaker 1: for for the Paralympics. And what it definitely did was
Speaker 1: it it put the subject of disability sort of front
Speaker 1: and center in society in a way that that that
Speaker 1: that it had never that had never happened before. I
Speaker 1: remember lieving the stadium one night in London and there
Speaker 1: was a a mom with her daughter, quite young daughter
Speaker 1: with double emputy, and she was walking very slowly out
Speaker 1: of the park and the man was just pootling along alongside,
Speaker 1: and you could see the mom just wanted to pick
Speaker 1: her up and stick her in her wheelchair and push her,
Speaker 1: and the mom wasn't doing that. And I talked to everyone,
Speaker 1: so I stopped and said, have you had a nice time?
Speaker 1: And a mom was just like yeah, And I said,
Speaker 1: what happened to? We've been here every day, We've watched
Speaker 1: like loads of stuff and said the start of the game,
Speaker 1: said my daughter covered her legs. She did, and she
Speaker 1: preferred to be in a pram as opposed to a
Speaker 1: wheelchair because she knew as a wheel chat, although she
Speaker 1: knew she'd get treated differently being sort of a young
Speaker 1: child in a pram, she felt she was treated worse
Speaker 1: if she was in a wheelchair. And she'd watch loads
Speaker 1: of stuff, and she'd watch Johnny Peacock and she was
Speaker 1: now walking in a pair of shorts and showing off
Speaker 1: her legs and I was like, right. So I said
Speaker 1: to this this young girl, I said, so, you know,
Speaker 1: what do you think of Johnny? And she liked to
Speaker 1: know and I said, sid, you want to be like
Speaker 1: Johnny Peacock when you grew up? And she looked at
Speaker 1: me as kind of only a seven eight year old
Speaker 1: card and went, well, that's stupid, because Johnny's a boy
Speaker 1: and I'm a girl. Okay. So it's clear that the
Speaker 1: London Games made the UK and perhaps even the world
Speaker 1: sit up and take note. So what next. By the
Speaker 1: time the Rio Games came around, even TV stars were
Speaker 1: keen to get involved. Here's R. J. Mitty of the
Speaker 1: US hit drama Breaking Bad. I really wanted to get
Speaker 1: involved because you know, um, the the Olympics and the
Speaker 1: Paralympics to me are such a pivotal part of our
Speaker 1: society when it comes to what we can do, the
Speaker 1: mentality of the human condition, of how far we can
Speaker 1: push ourselves and um, and I was trying to get
Speaker 1: involved with them. And in the in the US we
Speaker 1: weren't really I wasn't really making making the cut and uh.
Speaker 1: And in the United Kingdom forwards more than happy to
Speaker 1: to pick me up. But what many people don't know
Speaker 1: is that the Paralympic Games were very nearly canceled and
Speaker 1: it's only thanks to the determination and the resilience of
Speaker 1: the Paralympic movement that they happened. They actually had the
Speaker 1: furthest reach of any games in history. More than four
Speaker 1: billion people watched from over a hundred and fifty countries.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen the Paralympic flag handle and ceremonial saying
Speaker 1: mardis is his loradies A ceremonial Paralympica. What a roller
Speaker 1: coaster these past few years have been. But here we are,
Speaker 1: through all of the delays and hardships of a pandemic.
Speaker 1: The sixteenth Paralympic Games are underway. So what can we
Speaker 1: expect from the games this summer? I knew just the
Speaker 1: person to ask, Juan Pablos Alaza. For fourteen years, Juan Pablo,
Speaker 1: who is the President of the National Disability Council in
Speaker 1: Colombia as well as president of the Inter American Committee
Speaker 1: for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons
Speaker 1: with Disabilities, has been a global and passionate activist for
Speaker 1: the Paralympic movement and for rights of persons with disabilities. Well,
Speaker 1: the Tokyo Games at an unusual games because well, of
Speaker 1: course we were dealing with this meteorite that kill Earth
Speaker 1: called COVID. That right now, it's it's more like that's
Speaker 1: our vival mode. We we need the games to happen
Speaker 1: for our for our system, and mostly because of our athletes.
Speaker 1: And I think it's also like such of hope for
Speaker 1: for the world. You know, we are a little bit
Speaker 1: of that light at the end of the tunnel. Die
Speaker 1: Tammaso is a legend in Japan. He represented Japan in
Speaker 1: the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, and since retiring, has
Speaker 1: taken a particular interest in athlete development and has a
Speaker 1: passion for the Paralympic movement. I asked him about Japan's
Speaker 1: intended legacy for the Paralympic Games. The most fundamental impact
Speaker 1: on Japanese society, in my opinion, is about labeling. In Japan,
Speaker 1: we offer support to people with disabilities, but conversely that
Speaker 1: results in people with disabilities being grouped together. People with
Speaker 1: disabilities are on one side and healthy people on the other,
Speaker 1: clearly separating them into different groups. In the same way,
Speaker 1: if we raised the question of labeling and the Paralympic
Speaker 1: Games were not merely talking about people with disabilities, but
Speaker 1: also those people who are not Paralympians. I believe that
Speaker 1: the biggest legacy of the Paralympics is to free us
Speaker 1: from the stigma of those labels like being Japanese or
Speaker 1: male or female. Since we tend to confine ourselves into
Speaker 1: certain frames, the Paralympics invites us to question the power
Speaker 1: or importance of labels and categorization. Are they signposts for
Speaker 1: community pride and self identification or are they used to
Speaker 1: other and distance those who have always been on the margins.
Speaker 1: Language is personal and shaped by who we are and
Speaker 1: how we live, which is why this global lens on
Speaker 1: disability and inclusion has never been more important, and, according
Speaker 1: to Juan Pablo, Tokyo is taking up the charge to
Speaker 1: forge a lasting impact that reaches far beyond their borders.
Speaker 1: Never before in the history of the Paralympic movement had
Speaker 1: inclusion been explicitly in the in the strategic plan. So
Speaker 1: they started with um with this administration three years ago,
Speaker 1: where we designed the like the first like the first
Speaker 1: drawing of the first blueprint of inclusion being spoken about
Speaker 1: explicity in explicitly in our in our our work. So yes,
Speaker 1: it's fascinating times. We are indeed pioneering this with all
Speaker 1: the additional challenges that that means, because you know this
Speaker 1: is unchartered territories. I think that if in London we
Speaker 1: matured us an elite uh competition of mass consumption and
Speaker 1: in real we kind of consolidated that in in Tokyo
Speaker 1: we are launching now that we know that we're a
Speaker 1: big movement. Yeah, and now that we have that very
Speaker 1: much well consolidated, we can start to focus on our
Speaker 1: broader purpose. So of course we will always be about
Speaker 1: sports and that's not going to change ever, but sports
Speaker 1: for the service of inclusion of people with these abilities.
Speaker 1: Now that we're like adults and grownups, we can say, okay,
Speaker 1: we can use this massive platform and this uh so
Speaker 1: wide and global reach to actually get some in s
Speaker 1: done through the weed the fifteen campaign that it's a
Speaker 1: ten year initiative to see how we can link we
Speaker 1: can find that philosopher. So we're talking about before linking,
Speaker 1: how para sports positively and truly and measurably and objectively
Speaker 1: impact the implementation of the inn Convention of rights of
Speaker 1: people with disabilities. Bringing you through this timeline of the Paralympics,
Speaker 1: albeit quickly, is important because with a shared understanding of
Speaker 1: how far we've come, we can start to map out
Speaker 1: what's next. It's time for us to stop looking back
Speaker 1: and to start looking forward. It's time for us to
Speaker 1: think about what is next. In Episode two, will be
Speaker 1: exploring the law, the limitations and opportunities of the policies
Speaker 1: we work and live within, and how paralympians, advocates, activists
Speaker 1: and allies are creating the change that we need. This
Speaker 1: podcast has been made by disabled and non disabled people,
Speaker 1: and this story is for everyone. Join us. These podcasts
Speaker 1: have been made possible by the supporter Procter and Gamble.
Speaker 1: P and G share our ambition to create a more
Speaker 1: equal world, a world where everyone can have equal access
Speaker 1: and the opportunity to thrive. We are very grateful for
Speaker 1: the partnership in making these conversations a reality. Of people
Speaker 1: with the direct involvement in the production of this podcast,
Speaker 1: including guests, identify as disabled. This podcast was created by
Speaker 1: Greg Nugent, co founder of Harder Than You Think. I'm
Speaker 1: Sophia Morgan, your host and executive producer. Fellow executive producers
Speaker 1: are Chanaid Burke, Greg Nugent, Barnaby Spurrier, Laura I'ms, Mark Pritchard,
Speaker 1: and Kimberly Dobrunner. Thank you to the I p C
Speaker 1: and Channel four for their support and use of archive material.
Speaker 1: Thanks to our podcast production Partner Media, and also to
Speaker 1: Seneca Women for their assistance with distributing this show. If
Speaker 1: you want to follow the equal to story and join
Speaker 1: the conversation hashtag equal to, go to our website ht
Speaker 1: Whitey dot world, where you will also find the transcript
Speaker 1: and video versions of the podcast, along with subtitles and
Speaker 1: a BSL signed version in the coming days.