Kristin Duquette, a former Team USA swimmer, has made huge advances in the Paralympic swimming league in the USA. Duquette grew up being a non-disabled athlete, until the age of 8, when she became diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
Disability has been an important historical topic in the world of sport and continues to be a topic of conversation in the current news. People with disabilities often face societal barriers. Women with disabilities are challenged with two layers of discrimination, disability and gender. Historically, sports were viewed as a man’s game because of the strong, powerful, dominant image they portrayed. Women on the other hand were considered weak, and non-dominant for years. This image caused women a great deal of struggle as they tried to find their way into the masculine dominant sporting world.
Kristin Duquette was a strong, courageous individual who did not let disability or gender conflict with her dreams of becoming an elite athlete. Duquette set American Paralympic records as she become a fierce backstroke swimmer. She was recently interviewed about changes she would like to see occur in the world of para-sport. Kristin Duquette’s response was that disabled athletes should have the same coverage as able-bodied athletes in the media, get the same amount of care when it comes to mental health, and see an increase in the availability of scholarships for Para-athletes.
Para-athletes still face many challenges when i comes to being accepted as equally as able-bodied athletes. We must continue to challenge these barrier that exist for marginalized group like women and para-athletes. Only then will para-athletes and women be able to flourish and break down barriers of the past.
courtneymd
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 