Champion, Indeed!

So, Is it Just ME, or do you, too, find sheer stupidity to be, well stupid?  Well, have I got one for you….

Imagine…you are an 11 year-old girl. Your spinal chord is stricken with a rare neurological disease rendering you unable to walk.

Fast forward seven years.  You are now 18; ahh, the magic of being 18  (must pause for a moment and just remember…smiling…).  You have been in a wheel chair for all of those seven years; almost half your life!

Meet Victoria Arlen, the young girl who uses wheels for legs.

  

Victoria was in a coma for years. She missed-out on most of the typical experiences of youth.  One could grow quite bitter with such a fate.

Not Victoria…she chose not to jump into the pity-pool: she jumped into a swimming pool, instead.  With diligent training and unwavering determination, she has become a world record-holder and highly decorated athlete.

Having just arrived in Montreal, Canada for the Paralympic World Swimming Championships (August, 2013), Victoria has learned she has been disqualified from competition.

Why, you ask?  (You better sit down for this….)

A 16-person governing group of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has determined that Victoria is “not paralyzed ENOUGH”!

I might find it possible for one non-thinking, unfeeling version of a human-being able to admit to such an opinion, but…and  let’s assume there had to be a majority ruling…that means NINE such wonders had to  agree.

Before I express my feelings about the IPC and it’s ruling, may I humbly suggest that it be ruled hazardous to humanity for 9 – 16 persons of this ilk to come together – for anything!  (Therapy might be OK!)

Now, let’s suppose that many of those 16 committee members are parents…you see where I am going…how would they feel, then?  Would having the ruling of “not paralyzed ENOUGH” in any way soften the type of pain a parent feels for their child who is limited in ANY way? 

Is there a Paralympic event for THAT?

Back to Victoria…

Having arrived in Montreal, Canada and having trained for this world-class event for the last year, she has just learned the IPC  has disqualified her.  Is not their very existence to recognize and support the efforts, the determination, the talents, the resolve of all the Victorias who turn to these wonderful opportunities to find their deserved place in the sun? 

I don’t know if members of this committee are paid or are volunteers.  If they are paid, let’s get a refund!  If they volunteer, thank you, very much, but there must be something you are more qualified to do than destroy the dreams of paralyzed children.

I may not know all the facts.  In some ways, I pray I don’t.  I pray that “they” never know life in a wheelchair, though I would urge them to assume that lifestyle for just one week: that’s one day to every year that Victoria has lived that way…and will continue to.   Maybe, just maybe, they would lift heir pompous bums from it and say, “we didn't care -  ENOUGH”; we got it WRONG!

In a recent interview on a United States national news show, Victoria stated, “I refuse to be bitter”.  In that statement, dear Victoria, you are, yet again, a champion.

So, IS it just me, or do you, too feel more sorry for the IPC Committee members than for Victoria.  In defining their own heartlessness, they have more clearly defined what is in Victoria’s heart: HOPE

Hey, IPC: is THAT ENOUGH?

(who are you people?)

Please consider supporting Victoria Arlen and other disabled athletes in local, national and world-wide competition and celebrate what THEY stand for.

Thank you

ABOUT THE IPC

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, Germany, its mission is To enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world. Furthermore, the IPC wants to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.

The IPC has a democratic constitution and structure and is composed of representatives from 174 National Paralympic Committees (NPC's), four international organizations of sport for the disabled (IOSD's) and five regional organizations. The IPC's headquarters is located in Bonn, Germany.

On the basis of being able to organize the Paralympic Games more efficiently and to give the Paralympic Movement one voice, the four international organizations combined under the IOSD founded the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) in 1982. In the upcoming years, other organizations joined and the need for a democratically guided organization emerged, demanded by the nations participating in the Paralympic Movement. They desired a democratic structure, to improve national and regional representation, which led to the foundation of the IPC as we know it today. The 1994 Winter Paralympics, Norway, were the first to be organized by the IPC.

The IPC functions as an umbrella organization, representing several sports and disabilities, in contrast to other international sports organizations for athletes with a disability, which are predominantly limited to a single sport or disability.

The word "Paralympic" derives from the Greek preposition "para" ("beside" or "alongside"). and "Olympics". The first connotation connected to the syllable "para" was paralysis or paraplegia. But since the Paralympics cover different disability groups and the close association to the Olympic Movement, "para" underlines the existence of both movements side by side.

A fifteen-member Governing Board oversees the IPC between meetings of the General Assembly. Dr. Robert D. Steadward became the first President in 1989. Since 2001, Sir Philip Cravenis President of the IPC, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee.

The number of athletes and nations participating in the Paralympic Games and thus being part of the Paralympic Movement is constantly increasing, alongside with the audience. Sport for persons with a disability is growing on a national and international level.