Written by Victoire Morier

In Singapore, when the name of a sport is mentioned, or indeed, when the word “Olympics” is bandied about, rarely do minds turn to the subset of athletes with disabilities – also known as para-athletes.

In fact, despite nigh-constant efforts to raise awareness, para sports and the Paralympics have always been languished on the periphery of Singaporean’s minds.

So why is there this disconnect?

At the end of the day, para-athletes work just as hard as their able-bodied peers to excel in their chosen sport, for a chance to compete on the world stage. It’s a vocation to them.

Many other things are the same – they must abide by the rules of their sport, which are usually adapted to better suit persons with disabilities (PWDs). For instance, para-taekwondo looks at stances and balance, and not necessarily accuracy of movement.

Could it be the nature of the conversation disabilities tend to bring up?

Disabilities tend to bring in layers which able-bodied people aren’t comfortable exploring. Those with able bodies are considered to be on “equal ground” – all have two hands, two arms, two legs and an equal number of fingers and toes. But where does a person with a missing limb stand in correlation to one with an intellectual impairment?

Even without getting that far, when sparing in taekwondo, the extent of limb loss alone can have an impact on balance among para-athletes in the same weight category.

That’s not to say that efforts aren’t being made to bridge this gap.

As Singapore continues to push the healthy lifestyle initiative among both able-bodied people and PWDs, associations are starting to tackle misconceptions surrounding para sports through social media platforms.

The rising profiles of para-athletes in Singapore (Yip Pin Xiu comes to mind) are also doing much to address the disconnect.

But if these few driving factors are the main movers and shakers behind Singapore’s para sports scene, there’s a long way to go.

On the other hand, there’s also hope – in late April, the Singapore Taekwondo Federation Para-Taekwondo Sub-committee held its inaugural STF Para Taekwondo Poomsae Championship, with hopes that it would become an annual event.

Progress is definitely being made, but it’ll be a while before we get there.