Mastodawn

Matthew Hallonbacka Apr 27, 2023

I've been thinking about this today: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1171333573/paralympics-tiktok-controversy

It's not clear-cut, IMO.

1. Exposing audiences to disabled sport (and, by extension #disability) is good. Just look at the societal impact of London 2012.
2. Jumping on the latest TikTok trend is a good way to be seen.
3. Social media is already full of non-disabled sports clips. More often, they are popular when they contain something funny or unexpected.

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Matthew Hallonbacka

4. Laughing at things together helps normalize the things - there are popular disabled comedians.
5. Forbidding laughing at things is infantilizing.
6. If this was the IPCs whole social presence, that would be terrible.

“Ableism for views”? Absolutely not.
Positive #disabled representation? Also probably not.

I haven’t loved a lot of what the IPC has done in recent years, but their TikTok account certainly isn't the worst.