IPC President: Rio 2016 Can Transform a Generation

(ATR) International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven says the Rio 2016 Paralympics could build awareness for para-athletes and people with disabilities like never before.

"In London 2012 the tagline was ‘inspire a generation’; at Rio 2016 we can ‘transform a generation’," says Craven. "Few sporting events can offer such a potential and catalyst for change."

Craven spoke alongside USOC Paralympics chief Rick Adams and Paralympian Tatyana McFadden on the first day of the Team USA Media Summit at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, California. The IPC aims to build on the success of the Paralympics at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 with an unprecedented amount of television coverage for the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

NBC will offer 66 hours of Paralympic coverage as the U.S. host broadcaster during the Games beginning in September. Craven says this amount of media coverage will serve as a "catalyst to grow disability awareness in the United States".

"Our research shows that 84 percent [of Americans] believe attitudes toward people with disabilities would change if people saw them competing in sports at a high level and 95 percent say Paralympians are good role models for both disabled and non-disabled Americans," Craven cites from a national survey conducted by Benenson Strategy Group.

"We have to transform people’s perceptions, it is subliminal education," he says. "We’re all in this together; we’re all similar one to the other."

IPC communications director Craig Spence tells Around the Rings the London 2012 Paralympics showed that para-athletes can have a positive impact on society.

"In London one in three people changed their attitudes toward people with disability after the Games," he says. "We’ve got to really tell the media this is a once in a generation opportunity to change U.S. attitudes towards Paralympians, and the way to do that is through television coverage."

U.S. Paralympian Tatyana McFadden says she witnessed this attitude shift firsthand.

"Since London 2012, I have definitely seen more awareness of Paralympic sport in the U.S. and I hope Rio 2016 can take it to the next level," she says. "Widespread media coverage can trigger seismic changes in attitudes."

McFadden says the exposure has also helped her and fellow Paralympians gain sponsorship opportunities just like those of U.S. Olympians.

"It’s so crucial for us to have sponsorships because it’s so hard for us to train and possibly go to school or have a job. Our sports are very costly for us because of the equipment we need," says McFadden.

Craven says the added media coverage will help more than just the Paralympians.

"You can transform the lives of millions of Americans who have a disability and change the perceptions of millions more," he says.

IPC to Meet Disability Advocates in Washington, D.C.

The IPC tells ATR that its leaders will travel to Washington, D.C. this Wednesday to meet with and garner the support of disability advocacy groups within the United States.

"I think that it’s very important with Rio 2016 and the way that the Paralympics will be seen by Americans really for the first time on NBC that we have support from the various areas of the disability movement in the USA," Craven tells ATR.

Craven and the IPC will talk with advocates of the disabled about how the Paralympic movement can help para-athletes away from sport.

"What makes the Paralympics so important is that an individual can express themselves and have the opportunities to develop their lives. To me, most athletes will use sport as a vehicle to further their lives," Craven says.

Spence says the purpose of the meetings is to "get the advocacy groups on board and show what the Paralympic Games can do in this country."

"People watching Paralympic sport, they realize that somebody in a wheelchair, who they think may not be able to do something, can compete at a high level and can succeed outside of sport too."

Spence says that the IPC will also meet with UNICEF on Friday in New York followed by a meeting with United Nations secretary general Ki Moon Ban

Written by Kevin Nutley in Los Angeles, California.

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