From the New York Times:

Heba Said Ahmed (left) won a gold medal for power lifting at the recent Paralympic Games in Beijing, and broke a world record.

But when she left Beijing and returned home to Egypt, Ahmed once again faced a society that views her as a second-class citizen because she cannot walk, a disability caused by a childhood bout of polio. An excerpt:

“I want to prove to society that I am better than what they think of me,” she said. “In Egypt, they think a handicapped person should just stay in bed.”

It is hard to overstate how different Ms. Ahmed is from many of those around her. It is all about attitude. Egypt is filled with people who face adversity, most often a function of poverty and systemic indifference. It is a class-based society with an unwritten contract that many people believe condemns them to live as they were born, poor and marginalized. There is a pervasive feeling of impotence, a collective belief that fighting back is futile.

But Ms. Ahmed never refers to fate; she talks about choices. She does not talk about obstacles; she talks about challenges.

… “There is no such thing as a handicap,” she said. “A handicap is in your thinking, or in your heart.”

From BBC, Irish Times, and elsewhere:

Irish soccer player and long-time Paralympian Derek Malone has been excluded from this year’s Paralympics because he was judged to be “not disabled enough” to compete.

The Paralympics Council of Ireland has complained about the decision and asked for clarification on how it was reached. They said Malone had been assessed by a neurologist before the games who ruled that he fitted the criteria to participate.

Malone, who has cerebral palsy, said he believed he was being penalized because he trained too hard.

(BBC photo)

From MSNBC:

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) is proposing a major initiative to expand federal funding for sports rehabilitation programs for veterans with disabilities, and is hoping to add athletes to the U.S. Paralympic team in the process.

But some critics worry that siphoning funds away from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs for sports programming could deplete already scarce resources for core rehabilitation programs needed by veterans.

At heart, this is a turf war, sparked by the USOC’s pursuit of government funding. But it has triggered a broader debate about how to best allocate limited resources to treat and reintegrate returning veterans facing an array of obstacles, ranging from depression to paralysis.

Swimmer and veteran Melissa Stockwell (above), who is competing on the U.S team in three Paralympic events this week, started swimming after losing part of her leg in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad.

With video. Star Tribune/MSNBC photo.

See also:

Paralympics: Fighting for USA — Again — Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the AFP and the New York Times:

A Paralympic wheelchair race will be repeated on Friday, even after medals were awarded, because the first race on Monday ended in a crash involving multiple athletes.

The incident occurred near the end of the race when Switzerland’s Edith Hunkeler swerved into another racer at more than 15 miles an hour. The incident caused a pile-up that took six athletes out of the race, including all three medallists from the 2004 Athens Paralympics — Hunkeler, Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida, and Cheri Blauwet from the United States. Hunkeler and Wakako were hospitalized following the crash.

“I call something like this an occupational hazard of wheelchair racing,” Blauwet, also a student at Stanford Medical School, said in a telephone interview afterward. “What we do, anything can happen. Everyone’s out to win – it’s part of why what we do is so exciting. It’s very high stakes.”

Long wins second gold of Games – Baltimore Sun:

U.S. Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long of Maryland, whose legs were amputated below the knee when she was thirteen months old, wins the women’s 100-meter butterfly and earns her second gold at the Beijing Games.

An extended feature about Long is here.

“If [Michael Phelps] can win eight golds, then I can take seven,” she said. “I’ve been visualizing my races for months. His success made it that much more real for me.”

Olympic swimmer Du Toit wins Paralympic gold – New York Times

The art and science of wheelchair basketball — New York Times

(AFP photo)

From Reuters/[UK] Guardian:

As Beijing prepares to host the Paralympics, China advertises significant improvements for the nation’s 83 million people with disabilities. Still, people with disabilities say stigma, isolation and poor facilities are widespread.

Miao Qi, a 32-year-old woman from Beijing whose leg was amputated following bone cancer, said her disability prevented her from accessing higher education and getting a job. She has not left the apartment she shares with her parents for more than a year.

“Other people look at you strangely – this has a psychological impact. Perhaps they don’t do it maliciously but just think: ‘What’s wrong with that young woman? So pretty, but why is she that way?’” she said.

(more…)

From ESPN, a feature with video about Team USA, winners of the 2008 Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament and ranked number one in the world.

The sport, once called “murderball,” pits athlete against athlete in often violent and painful combat that relies on skills, coordination and timing. In the video, team members discuss the points they earn for their level of impairment, and bicker over which players are more valuable to the team. One thing is not in dispute: their dedication to winning in the Beijing Paralympics. The video features exciting game footage.

(Above: 18-year-old Joel Wilmoth is the youngest ever member of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team. ESPN photo)

From the [UK] Times: ‘I don’t see myself as having a disability; This is just my life’

Helene Raynsford, 28, is training full-time for the Beijing Paralympics, where she will compete as a single sculls arms-only rower. A former student at the Royal Ballet School, Raynsford had an accident and no longer has the use of her legs. She likes proving that she can do things herself.

“I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t happened, but as a result I know I’ve learned so much about what life has to offer. I think that’s something for me to celebrate.”

(more…)