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As has been noted, competitive sport is by its very nature exclusionary; not everyone can be, for example, a Roger Federer or an Esther Vergeer. What need not be exclusionary, however, is how that sport is presented to audiences. Comments in this thread, and many remarks on Twitter, have already indicated that broadcast networks ascribe less value to the Paralympics than to the Olympics. In South Africa there is a marked contrast between how the events are broadcast. During the Olympics the public broadcaster frequently crossed to London to show events with South African athletes live. There were highlights packages for a few hours during the day, and again at night. These programmes were almost always screened at the advertised times. Furhtermore the commentary was always part of the feed, usually Australian or American commentators who imparted their in-depth knowledge of the event and the athletes to viewers. By contrast there are only about 2 hours of Paralympics coverage per day, with no live crossings to London. Often there is a visual feed only, with a voice-over artist who knows very little about the event or the athletes providing the commentary. Any relation between the scheduled screening time as advertised, and when the show is actually screened, seems to be co-incidental. Once the show that was scheduled to screen at 10.00pm aired at about 11.30pm. That did not happen during the Olympics. This discrepancy is despite the fact that our Paralympic athletes are performing far better than their Olympic counterparts; at the end of the Olympics the country's athletes had amassed six medals in total. At this stage in the Paralympic Games we already have 15 medals. The biggest indictment of all, though, should be awarded to the country's sporting authorities: they pay Olympic athletes about $47,000 for a gold medal, yet the Paralympic athletes receive only $11,000. Just a few random thoghts... Leslie Harris Johannesburg, South Africa ________________End of message________________ This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask] Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.