The Paralympics games follow the same as the Olympics games for people with a wide range of disabilities like intellectual disabilities, limb deficiency, short stature, and several others. But there is no less strength and resolve in these Olympians.
• Courage
• Determination
• Inspiration
• Equality
These are the four Paralympics values that are the core strength of these games and the thoughts which encourage the people ahead participating in them. But these Paralympics do not get enough recognition and appreciation they deserve. This year at Tokyo Paralympics, these Paralympians returned home with 19 medals in total i.e. 5 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze medals which is the country’s best-ever tally. This is a higher number of medals than all the medals earned before as India finished inside the top 25.
But, the problem arises when these athletes do not get enough recognition in society as the other mainstream sports or other athletes who are not specially-abled. Though the Indian government and several state governments announced the same amount of prize money for them as for the other Olympians but not getting enough media attention, social media attention does not lead them to make a longer imprint on people’s minds. The problem lies in the people’s mentality that focuses on their disability rather than those athlete’s prowess. Their disabilities are considered as a benefit in the society so they are not recognized as much as any other medalist such as Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu etc. They too deserve the same level of recognition and appreciation by a society which motivates them to go a long way ahead in their respective fields.