Why Sports Should Be Included in Disability Rights Convention

Hello, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you and to represent an entire world of athletes with disabilities. I am a wheelchair racer from the United States and will be competing in the 800 meter, 1500 meter, 5000 meter, and marathon distances in an attempt to bring home a Gold in the next 10 days. In addition, I am also a medical student at Stanford University in California, and am deeply interested and committed to the development of human rights through sport. I see the impact that sport has made on my own life, and much more so, the potential that it has to positively drive the movement for human rights on a global scale.

What does this phrase - "human rights" - really mean to a person with a disability?

To me as a kid, it meant gaining an identity and fully connecting with my future as a wheelchair user. I grew up on a farm in the Midwestern, agricultural section of the United States. My father was a farmer, and my mother was a nurse. I was run over by a tractor when I was 1 year old, and sustained a complete spinal cord injury. As I grew into my youth, I was lucky enough to have a lightweight, functional wheelchair. I was also fortunate to have people around me who encouraged me to be independent and to challenge myself. I became involved in school government, music, and art. I was an average, content child. However, it was not until I was introduced to adaptive sport that I began to see my potential as an athlete. I discovered what it meant to achieve excellence. 8 years later, I am the winner of the New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston Marathons. I hope to top this off with a win at the Paralympic Marathon on September 26 th . Until sport entered my life, I was content with blending in and letting others lead the course of my life. I was not a leader, nor a spokesperson, nor an advocate for people with disabilities. This is my story -   the story of a fortunate kid of the United States asserting her human rights and gaining the identity of a leader.

To someone from Angola, human rights may mean being able to leave the home. A survivor of a landmine blast or other act of war loses his legs and is suddenly left with two options for mobility: crawl or be carried. His self-esteem plummets as his friends can no longer invite him out and his family looks at him with pity in their eyes. His human right to dignity is destroyed as he crawls through the streets of his village. By handing this man a basketball and placing him in a wheelchair, his life is transformed. He can wheel around, look his family in the eye, and take pride in the identity of "athlete." He has regained self-esteem and dignity through sport - all at the cost of 4 wheels and a ball.

To someone from Afghanistan, human rights may simply mean being treated as a human. A baby girl, born with no vision, will be automatically cast into a lesser strata of society while she struggles in futility to prove her worth as a citizen. A blind person cannot work, cannot go to school, and has no potential to marry or have a family. As she grows, people consistently expect nothing from her, and in turn, she expects nothing of herself. She does not know that human rights apply to her. By teaching this girl to run and placing her hand into the hand of a guide runner, or by showing her how to ride a tandem bicycle, she can show others in her country that a vision impairment does not always preclude worthiness. Sport can open her neighbors' eyes just as effectively as it can open her own.

As the phrase "human rights" has come into fashion globally, different minority groups have asserted themselves by pointing out the areas in which they are treated differently than their peers. Why should skin color, sex, or religious preference decide what human rights an individual is granted? Various governmental, non-governmental, private, and non-profit organizations have mobilized worldwide campaigns to improve the situation for their advocated group. Although disability is a sector of society that is still highly marginalized and denied basic rights, it has been largely ignored in this global push. As an organization, the International Paralympic Committee, through its promotion of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability, has the ability to promote sport on a global level.

As an individual whose life was changed by the opportunity to compete in sports, I truly understand that to choose your own destiny is a human right. Whether it is an individual's goal to be an athlete, musician, lawyer, or lawmaker, all people should be allowed to mold their own lives and to define themselves freely. In other words, self-determination.

  If I want to be the world champion in the marathon, and I am committed to the training and lifestyle that will make me be a world-class athlete, than no lack of opportunity should stand in my way. If I want to get up at 6:00 AM to go push 26 miles on a daily basis for months at a time, I should not be prohibited from doing so by a set of steps that leads up to the training path. In addition, I should be able to say with pride that I am a wheelchair marathoner, and that in defining my course, I have the potential to be a member of the United States Paralympic Team. This is a human right.

In addition, for people with disabilities, sport has an even larger potential to provide an innovative method of rehabilitation that will promote physical health, mental health, and participation in society. Because the disability community is a minority group that is defined by a physical state, the opportunity to be active and involved in a positive social circle promotes the ability to mitigate all negative factors that may worsen or complicate a disability. In fact, to coin a term often used in discussions of disability rights, we can use the lever of sport to promote "This Ability" rather than "Dis-ability."

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