Shortly after the conclusion of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Channel 4 began promoting its Paralympics coverage with the slogan “Thanks for the Warm-up”. It then launched its biggest marketing campaign to date, “Meet the Superhumans”, which received critical acclaim.

The Paralympics were broadcast in over 100 countries and reached 3.8 billion viewers. At the closing ceremony, Lord Coe, President of the London 2012 Organising Committee, said people would never look at disability the same way again. Polls conducted after the Paralympics found that 65% of Britons felt that London had marked a breakthrough in the perception of people with disabilities.

Now, on the eve of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, a new exhibition documents the last 70 years of disability sport. ‘Paralympic History: From Sport Integration to Social Inclusion (1948-2024)’ begins with the early community created by the 1948 Stoke Mandeville Games – which opened on the same day as the 1948 London Olympics and foregrounded the needs of injured soldiers after the war.

This led to the establishment of common principles and objectives, culminating in the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. In the years that followed, the Games developed into a global brand, showcasing groundbreaking technologies and extraordinary human achievements.

Visitors can see a copy of the document detailing the founding of the International Paralympic Committee in 1989. Also included is documentation of the 2008 Court of Arbitration decision explaining why South African runner Oscar Pistorius was allowed to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games with his Össur Cheetah Flex-Foot. This was the first time in history that an athlete with a prosthetic had competed in the Olympics and marked a new chapter in the way people think about disability in sport.

These documents may not be exciting exhibits, but they underline the importance of the legislative changes that have enabled the development of parasports.

Without these historic turning points, the Paralympics would not have become the global event it is today, with a growing media impact. The creation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was crucial, as it brought an organised strategy for the future of the Paralympics and greater alignment with the International Olympic Committee.

Representation of Para-Athletes

The phrase “able-bodied, able-bodied” plays a key role in this exhibition, which shows how the London 2012 Paralympics ushered in a new era for disability sport. Pistorius’s presence was one aspect, but what was crucial was the way newly appointed Paralympics broadcaster Channel 4 told the story – leading to a new chapter in global coverage of disability sport.

Although Channel 4 broke new ground with its memorable 2012 Superhumans campaign, some critics found it unhelpful. But the broadcaster was determined to make clear why the campaign was necessary. A study commissioned by Channel 4 found that for many viewers, parasports is disability first and excellence second: 59 percent of viewers said they watch the Paralympics to “watch athletes overcome their disability” and just 37 percent said they watch for the “exciting sporting competition.”

In response, and to encourage viewers to look at Para sport in a different light, Channel 4’s Paris 2024 campaign shows how Paralympians overcome forces such as “gravity, friction and time – the dispassionate elements and immutable forces of our world that make no exception for any athlete, regardless of disability”.

In a public statement, Yiannis Excharcos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services, warned broadcasters against sexist coverage of women’s sport at the 2024 Games. He argued that unconscious bias still leads to such coverage. The same now applies to coverage of the Paralympics: patronizing attitudes are not acceptable. With this in mind, it remains crucial that broadcasters seize the potential to change public perceptions.

But the story of paraculture in Paris has a deeper meaning. The Panthéon exhibition is just one of many projects promoted by the French Ministry of Culture that explore this theme through various artistic practices such as dance, theater and visual arts. At the Paris Games, visitors will see performances by artists highlighting paraculture and the excellence of performance culture for people with disabilities in France.

In this sense, the hard work of social change associated with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is not just what the broadcasters on the field show, but a feature of the wider public environment in which the Games take place.

This is why it is so important that the Games are a place where people can come together in physical spaces and reflect on these experiences to better imagine what the future might look like if societies could create space to accommodate differences more effectively.

In Channel 4’s campaign for Paris 2024, the broadcaster reminds its audience that it “exists to represent unheard voices, challenge the mainstream and create figurative excitement”. This Paralympic spirit is perhaps what makes its contribution so unique, but also why Channel 4 is leading the way in what sports broadcasting can or should be.

However, the broadcaster’s approach also reinforces the notion that disability sport is different and requires special efforts to address the remaining inequalities that continue to hinder its progress. Without this commitment and attention, the rate of transformation and acceptance of disability sport sought by the IPC and its community will not progress quickly.

Another athlete featured in the Panthéon exhibition is Aimee Mullins, who perhaps captures the themes of Paris 2024 better than anyone else. An icon of Paralympic athletics, Mullins has also become a fashion icon, embodying the positive message that “difference is beautiful.”

And this message, carried by this Paralympic exhibition, is perhaps the strongest to come out of Paris 2024. Difference does not require us to make comparisons to assess its value, but to recognise that it is an inherent feature of a progressive, equitable and diverse society.

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