"Running Out of His Lane"

I'd like to give a hat tip to Penny Richards over at DisStudies Temple U for the link to this article by Kenny Fries in the Washington Post about Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee runner who is trying to qualify for the Olympics. Fries' article is interesting. He writes:

"By contesting the notion that a disabled runner cannot, and should not, compete with nondisabled runners, Pistorius has challenged preconceived ideas not only of sport but of what it means to be human."

I've written about this story before. I've also written about Tatyana McFadden, the Paralympic high school track athlete who lost her court bid to compete in high school track and have her score count toward her team's score. (See label below). And, as some of my readers know, I've played competitive wheelchair tennis for the past decade, so I have a few thoughts to add to this debate -as a disabled athlete.

Controversy over these two athletes has run high. It strikes me, based on my experiences, that it is when athletes with disabilities not only try to " run out of their lane", as in compete against able bodied athletes, that there is a hot debate, but this heats up mostly when those athletes can and do win.

I saw this happen in my own experiences playing against able bodied tennis players. Because I am a quadriplegic, I have to attach my tennis racket to my hand with duct tape due to a lack of grip and dexterity. I don't look very imposing before I start playing - let's face it. I'm in a wheelchair and I have a tennis racket attached with duct tape.

So on a few occasions when I've been over at a local club practicing and I've had able bodied tennis players ask me to "play a few points", none of them really expected too much of me. One guy insisted he didn't even need shoes so he tried to play against me in flip flops. After he lost a few points, he said to me "Hey, you can really play! I didn't know that" as if I'd somehow fooled him and then said he was going to find his sneakers. I never saw him again. I've had other players wipe their brows after a few points and suddenly decide they have an appointment somewhere and have to leave. One woman looked over her shoulder at the parking lot and said to me "I hope no one is watching you beat me like this. I'll never live it down!"

And then there were the comments, like "Well I guess that wheelchair is faster than running for the ball" and "Maybe you don't get as heated up as we do when running" and (my personal favorite) "I could hit the ball better if I taped my racket on too." (I always tell folks they can borrow my duct tape. One woman took me up on this only to discover it limited her to one grip and she shook her head confused saying "I guess it isn't an advantage to tape it on.")

Having this happen over and over again leads me to think that none of these folks wanted to play tennis with a disabled person who, well, plays better than them.

So when I hear the pundits crying out that Pistorius' blades give him an advantage over the other runners, my ears go up. Ahh, a familiar tune. What's really going on here?

When Tatyana first ran track meets in her wheelchair, there were concerns about injuries. Then she won meets - and there were concerns about her score counting. She has an advantage, was the outcry.

You can't win. If you're not a good athlete, you might hurt someone. If you're too good, well, you have an advantage.

I've tried to just cover these stories without adding my experiences. But , in the end, I just can't help but compare. Some might say I just ran into a lot of poor sports over the years. But there you have it- that's what I think is going on.

Just pass me the duct tape.