Article

Technological developments for disabled athletes may facilitate their competition
in standard elite sports. They raise intriguing philosophical questions that
challenge dominant notions of body and normality. The case of 'bladerunner' Oscar
Pistorius in particular is used to illustrate and defend 'transhumanist'
ideologies that promote the use of technology to extend human capabilities. Some
argue that new technologies will undermine the sharp contrast between the athlete
as a cultural hero and icon and the disabled person that needs extra attention or
care; the one exemplary of the peak of normality, human functioning at its best,
the other representing a way of coping with the opposite. Do current ways of
classification do justice to the performances of disabled athletes? The case of
Oscar Pistorius will be used to further illustrate the complexities of these
questions, in particular when related to notions of normality and extraordinary
performances. Pistorius' desire to become part of 'normal' elite sport may be
interpreted as an expression of a right to 'inclusion' or 'integration', but at
the same time it reproduces new inequalities and asymmetries between performances
of able and dis-abled athletes: we propose that if one accepts that Pistorius
should compete in the 'regular' Olympic Games, this would paradoxically underline
the differences between able and disabled and it would reproduce the current
order and hierarchy between able and disabled bodies.

Langue : ANGLAIS