Athletes with Disabilities in the Media

For the context of this blog, the terms ‘impaired’ and ‘disabled’ will be used interchangeably and does not look to marginalize anybody.

Gribble with fellow countrymen Adam Scott

My client, James Gribble on behalf of The Puffin Foundation, wants to help change the mindset of how impaired athletes are shown in the media, particularly in sports. Mr. Gribble suffered a tragic accident back in 2008, when he fell off a bar stool, that left him with permanent spinal cord damage, rendering him an incomplete C4-C5 quadriplegic (Keipert, 2014). Before the accident, Gribble was an accomplished golfer and his passion for the game has led him to continue pursuing the sport through the use of the Paragolfer (Keipert, 2014). The $35,000 contraption is a motorized wheelchair that allows my client to be upright, to perform a golf swing. He believes that athletes with disabilities can be better depicted through a popular golf equipment company such as Titleist, which can help change the perception of athletes with physical impairments. 

            The (mis)representation of impaired athletes is driven by the stereotypical images and exaggerated representation of impaired athletes in the media. These athletes that are depicted focus more towards the feel-good stories of overcoming disability and inspiration, and not on their high physical performance (Purdue & Howe, 2012).  Currently, the mainstream media ignores disability sports because the athletes are not physically “ideal” to the American society’s normative standards of an abled body (Hargreaves & Hardin, 2009). A study found that media stereotypes of the inspiration story became frustrating and tiresome according to wheelchair athletes, and claimed that the media portrayal was heavily responsible for this (Hargreaves & Hardin, 2009).

The lack of education and knowledge of disabilities is not fully understood in American society (DePauw & Gavron, 2005). This is attributed by the mediocre coverage disability sports receives compared to other mainstream sporting events. This further reinforces the status quo by desensitizing the public to the way that media ignores athletes with disabilities (DePauw & Gavron, 2005). Covering the disability sport as a sporting event first and the disability in the rear mirror, more interest can be generated (DePauw & Gavron, 2005). Among the many stereotypes, the term ‘supercrip’ is the main stereotype that poses athletes as a ‘hero’ for having overcome their disability (Hardin & Hardin, 2004). Many people with disabilities resent this stereotype and are just trying to live a ‘normal’ everyday life (Hardin & Hardin, 2004).

Although athletes with impairments have steadily increased with inclusion and acceptance in society, the labeling of athletes presents problems(DePauw & Gavron, 2005). Having these individuals in categories creates habitus, which allows it to continue. Instead of labeling, people depicting impaired athletes should move to categorizing on ability (DePauw & Gavron, 2005). 

For the relationship between Titleist and my client, James Gribble, to move forward, the following suggestions should be taken into account. First, Titleist should recognize that the athletes with impairments present a marketing opportunity to capitalize on. While in Australia more than 1.2 million play the game of golf, one of the largest concentrations in the world, with only a few thousand who are disabled participate (Keipert, 2014). In the US, ten percent of people with disabilities play the game of golf (Keipert, 2014). Titleist should understand that this sector of the market is a trending topic, with golf being recognized as an official Olympic sport in Rio 2016 (Harig, 2014). Including the game in the Paralympics is inevitable and Mr. Gribble has expressed his dreams of including golf in the Paralympics (Palan, 2013). Titleist has the opportunity to become a forerunner in disabled golf before other companies such as Taylormade or Ping.

            Titleist should develop a campaign that focuses on his golfing ability. First is to include advertisements through all forms of media: print, television, and digital. For a print advertisements, emphasizing James Gribble’s sheer physical ability, can be accomplished with similar options as .

For commercials, we suggest Mr. Gribble promoting the company’s flagship product, the Titleist ProV1 golf ball. He should be included with other big names golfers such as 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott or Bubba Watson in the commercial. This emphasizes the point that skill and ability to drive a ball far is the importance, not the fact that he is on a Paragolfer. To further push the envelope, teaming up with more mainstream members under Titleist, such as Rickie Fowler and Ian Poulter, can produce viral videos that can appeal to a wider demographic who follow similar lifestyles as Fowler and Poulter. Perhaps having a video, similar to the one below, that the three of them on top of a building and making trick shots using the ProV1 golf ball. Again, the idea is to leverage James Gribble's ability to manipulate a golf ball, not that he is on a motorized wheel chair. 

Regardless on which method Titleist will use, the emphasis is on James Gribble’s athletic ability not in how he overcame or how inspirational it is to perform such a feat. By incorporating an athlete with impairments in a golf company that has a strong following, improvements on the perception on disabled athletes can be improved.

Reference

DePauw, K. & Gavron, S. (2005). Disability Sport. Champagne, IL: Human Kinetics.

Harig, B. (2014). Olympic-sized questions about golf. ESPN. Retrieved 27th March, 2014. http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/10464853/olympic-sized-questions-golf.

Hardin, B., & Hardin, M. (2003). Conformity and conflict: Wheelchair athletes discuss sport media. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 20(3), 246-259.

Hargreaves, J. & Hardin, B. (2009). Women wheelchair athletes: Competing against media stereotypes. Disability Studies Quarterly, 29(2).

Keipert, S. (2014). James Gribble hasn’t let quadriplegia stop him from playing the game he loves, and now he wants more disabled people to find their feet again through golf. Golf Australia. February, 76-81, retrieved March 29, 2014 from the

http://www.empowergolf.com.au/resources/GolfAustMagFebArticle.pdf.

Palan, S. (2013). Quadriplegic golfer JaPalames Gribble finishes rehabilitation, plays from wheelchair. ABC News . Retrieved 29th March 2014. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-30/quadraplegic-golfer-james-gribble-plays-from-wheelchair/4788310.

Purdue, D. & Howe, P. (2012). See the sport, not the disability: Exploring the Paralympic paradox. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health. 4(2), 189-205.

The Puffin Magic Foundation (2014) About Puffin Magic Foundation. Available:http://www.puffinmagic.org.au/pg.php?pgid=2 Retrieved 29th March, 2014.

Henry, R. & Shapiro, D. (Director). (2005). Murderball [Motion picture]. United States: Thinkfilm.

American Sporting Dream - Myth & Reality

Hello everyone!!! My name is Adrian and I am a 26-year-old second generation Cambodian living in the center of Stockton, California. I am a father of two young boys; my eldest Phillip is 14 years old, while Nathan is turning 12 in a couple of months. I currently work the graveyard shift in a cold storage warehouse where the hours are from 11:00PM to 7:00AM. The hours allow me to care and drop off my boys to and from school. As Phillip continues his freshman year at Edison High School and with my work hours, I plan to start taking night classes at Delta College this next semester in criminal justice, with the hope of becoming a corrections officer. I made the mistake of becoming a father at a young age and feel that a proper education can open up better opportunities to provide for my children.

            Since I work in cold storage, work is seasonal. My current income is $17,618 a year, which equates to just under $1,500 a month ($1,468 exactly). Housing and utilities eats up most of my income at ~$850 a month (more during the hot and cold seasons). I spend almost $150 on gasoline alone for my truck and even though I have a valid drivers license, I struggle with deciding if car insurance is needed when the money can be used for my kids. The rest of my money (~$450) is spread on necessities such as groceries, minutes for our prepaid cell phones, and clothes if needed. We do not have health insurance and rely heavily on Medi-Cal for those needs.

            Phillip recently watched the film the Blind Side and became inspired by the rags to riches story of Michael Oher. Unfortunately Phillip does not share the passion for football and leans toward tennis, where he currently made the team for Edison High School. After seeing the movie he wants to become a professional tennis player like Rafael Nadal, and feels determined that he too can make it. I was fortunate enough to supply Phillip with a basic tennis racquet that I picked up at a yard sale. Luckily the school has a fundraising program to help the team get new polo shirts and proper tennis shorts. Shoes on the other hand are not Nike or Adidas, but rather the generic athletic brand at Payless.  

            Although my son will have the opportunity to play tennis at a high school level, I question whether or not his dream of becoming a professional tennis player can be made to fruition or is he chasing a fairy tale? The American Sporting Dream has created a grandiose idea that if an athlete dedicates the time and effort, he or she can become a professional athlete. This skewed belief has created a deeply engrained believe for athletes that they can make it out of the ‘ghetto’ and into fame and fortune (Dubrow & Adams, 2012).  The amount of opportunities for Phillip to receive additional resources outside what is being offered at his school is difficult. The question of accessibility becomes problematic given my family’s situation.

            With limited resources, my son first cannot receive the proper training and equipment needed to become a top tier athlete. The area where we live does not have a public tennis court to practice in. The city of Stockton suffers from numerous gangs and being of Cambodian descent, I fear that my son will be exposed to some of the Asian street gangs that exist in this city (Huff, 2002). I do not want my children roaming the streets to get access to a public tennis court. The closest facility is Oak Park Tennis, which is a private club that requires $40 just to become a member and does not include additional usage charges or even private lessons (Membership, 2014). Will my son’s with his second hand racquet and no name brand of athletic apparel hold up in that bourgeois setting? Even if I can barely afford it, what additional strain will it take on my other son Nathan as well? I would also be required to drive Phillip there and back greatly affecting my future commitment to higher education.      

Next is the nutritional side of becoming a better athlete. On a small income, I am not concerned with providing healthy food options, instead I focus on providing the cheapest and most cost effective food available. How can I provide the healthy conscious Trader Joe’s selection when I only can afford bulk blocks of cheese, loaves of white bread, tubs of peanut butter (with no jelly), and powdered milk? I am not saying that my son will be given the next equivalent to a Todd Marinovich diet, yet clearly this is not the nutrition needed for an aspiring professional tennis player. More money needed to spend is something that would be hard when I am struggling on a limited income.

Clearly access and inclusivity to an exclusive sport is the issue. The American dream in sport is a false allusion that does not take into account of various obstacles that can prevent a child in excelling in that sport. Although I will do what it takes to keep my sons physically active, away from the street life, and give them the opportunity to engage in high school sports, the dream of becoming a professional tennis player will need to be recognized. Instead I hope that the same drive and mindset can be applied to high education.  

Reference

Dubrow, J. & Adams, J. (2012). Hoop inequalities: race, class and family structure background and the odds of playing in the National Basketball Association. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 43-59.

Farrey, T. (2009). Game on: How the pressure to win at all costs endangers youth sports, and what parents can do about it. New York, NY: Random House.

Huff, C.R. (2002). Gangs in America III. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Johnson, T. & Migliaccio, T. (2009). The social construction of an athlete: Africa American boy’s experience in sport. Western Journal of Black Studies, 33(2), 98-109.

Membership to Stockton tennis club. (2014). Retired March, 21, 2014, from http://www.stocktontennisclub.net/membership.html.

Indigenous Culture in US Sport

Indigenous Cultures in US Sport

Sports teams have used mascots to help symbolize or represent a specific team. Some mascots include: animals such as the Florida Gators or Pacific Tigers, human like figures such as Texas Tech Red Raiders or Dallas Cowboys, and the imaginative such as Tennessee Titans or Arizona State Sun Devils. However the use of indigenous cultures, or commonly known as Native Americans in the United States, in sport has become a controversy. Having been raised in an ethnic community and actually participating in Pop Warner youth football team called the Redskins, it never crossed my mind that what were adopting and subconsciously promoting the negativity of indigenous cultures. We embraced ‘Redskin’ stereotype that was portrayed in media particularly in the film Last of the Mohicans film (or any Western genre film that portrayed Native Americans) as being a savage merciless warrior.

The use of indigenous cultures in US sport presents social issues that negatively affect those cultures. The stereotypes derived from use of these indigenous cultures continue create adverse effects (Kim-Prieto, Goldstein, Okazaki, & Kirschner, 2010). As previously mentioned, media depictions and educational misrepresentations create and drive the stereotype for this misinterpretation (Longwell-Grice, 2010). The use of Indians, chiefs, and braves is appealing since it provides a stereotype for coaches and players to embody the mindset and idea that they too could be a “chief” or “brave” (Longwell-Grice, 2010).

Objection from the Native American community periodically surfaces with arguably the most offensive use of a mascot, the Washington Redskins (Basu, 2013). Susan Harjo, the president for a national Native American rights organization, has referred to the word redskin as the R-word, and even compares it as derogatory as the N-word (Basu, 2013). Legislation to ban the term redskin was introduced to congress that would amend the Trademark Act of 1946 and if passed, the bill would force teams like Washington to ban the use of its trademarked name (Basu, 2013).

Proponents have a different viewpoint of Native American symbols for their athletic team. Dan Snyder, Washington football team owner, has claimed that he will never change the name and that it honors “where we came from, who we are” (Martinez, 2013). To Native Americans, this concept of ‘honoring’ is viewed as a mockery of their culture and viewed this as institutional racism (Munson, 2010; Muir, 2010). This is the common defense among the privileged, which are predominantly white, and are talking on behalf of the Native Americans (Muir, 2010).

The question comes up of how did white individuals develop this concept that they can simply use an Indian mascot and find it “honoring”? Native Americans have long been on the receiving end of this through United States history (Longwell-Grice, 2010).  When European settlers first began settling in America in the early 1700, Native American tribes were driven out of their lands. Many white settlers viewed Native Americans as unfamiliar and alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted and felt that they deserved (Perdue & Green, 2005). The most notable advocate for the “Indian Removal” was President Andrew Jackson who signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which later paved way for the Trail of Tears and subsequent elimination of the an entire Indian tribe (Perdue & Green, 2005).

The media fuels this agenda with the classic violence between cowboys and Indians (watch any early Clint Eastwood films). This provides a false representation of the Native American community and further reaffirms white dominance among other cultures (Muir, 2010). The stereotypical symbols of the mascot appeals to fans of a professional organization and for alumni, community supporters, and students of an educational institution (Longwell-Grice, 2010). The logos utilize the mascot to create products to sell. Resistance to change the use of Native American mascots can negatively affect the status quo.

Getting rid of all Native American symbols in all aspects of professional and amateur sports is the socially just solution. This presents challenges to the status quo since the symbol provides marketing appeal for followers of a team. With a sports marketing perspective, having Native American symbols allow for easier revenue to be generated. Does the symbol necessarily have to be of an indigenous culture? Professional organizations should look and use the 2005 NCAA guidelines as a model for banning Native American symbols (Basu, 2013). The recent NCAA ban of the Native American mascots presents a move toward having a socially just sporting culture.

Taking a sidestep from Native Americans, does the University of Hawaii performing the haka dance viewed as socially just?

References

Basu, M. (2013). Native American mascots: Pride or prejudice? CNN. Inamerica.globs.cnn.com/2013/04/04/native-american-mascots-pride-or-prejudice.

Kim-Prieto, C., Goldstein, L., Okazaki, S., & Kirschner, B. (2010). Effect of exposure to an American Indian mascot on the tendency to stereotype a different minority group. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(3), 534-553.

Longwell-Grice, R. & Longwell-Grice, Hope. (2010). Chief, braves, and tomahawks: The use of American Indians as university mascots. C.R. King (Ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Martinez, M. (2013). A slur or term of ‘honor’? Controversy heightens about Washington Redskins. CNN. www.cnn.com/2013/10/12/us/redskins-controversy/.

Munson, B. (2010). Teach them respect not racism: Common themes and questions abut the use of “Indian” logos. C.R. King (Ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Muir, S. (2010). Native Americans as Sports Mascots. C.R. King (Ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Perdue, T. & Green, M. (2005). The Cherokee removal: A brief history with documents. Boston: Bedford St. Martins.

Discussion Refleciton

Facilitator Reflection

            For the gender order issue in sport, Brett and I focused on the topic of transgender athletes and their participation in sport. This assignment has helped open my eyes to transgender athletes and further understand and debunk myths about transgender athletes.  

Brett and I selected the social issue of gender order with an initial emphasis of inclusion in regards to campus recreation or sexual identity. Indecisive on what certain topic that was to be discussed since we were on the wrong track, we were stuck with a conundrum to select a topic that would deem relevant, suitable, and engaging towards the social issue of gender order. With the help from Dr. Killick, Fallon Fox was chosen for the discussion. Since everyone in class (including Brett and I) were unfamiliar with the controversy behind Fallon Fox, this allowed the entire class to be on an even playing field without any knowledge about the topic. The fact that Fallon Fox competed in a sport of mixed martial arts, I became more eager to learn about this topic because combat sports is one of my interests.

The topic of Fallon Fox was the strength of this discussion because it potentially challenged the entire class to examine a subject outside of their comfort zone. As seen from the class, some students had difficulty grasping with the idea of transgender athletes becoming transgender. This topic also helped enlighten the issues of inclusion for transgender athletes in sport and increase awareness (even in a small class setting) on the myths of transgender athletes. Since many of our colleagues were unaware the story of Fallon Fox, it pushed the class into a deeper discussion of a sensitive topic. A review of literature highlighted the major points that we discussed and helped serve to drive the conversation in class. This was another strength in our discussion since the class may have not been fully aware of Fallon Fox and helped to fill possible gaps in information. I felt that my knowledge of combative sports helped in this discussion and I was able to answer questions directed in that field.

After having done class discussions, I feel that the class already has an understanding on how it all works and what is expected. Areas of improvement would first recognize male-to-female transgender and female-to-male transgender athletes. We made the mistake of solely focusing on the male-to-female transgender of Fallon Fox and failing to not take into account of other athletes who were female-to-male. The applied scenario only focused on Fallon Fox and in retrospect, finding the opposite of her (a female-to-male) would have helped included that demographic. Second area of improvement is be more outspoken in the discussion. I felt that I could have been more engaging in the discussion instead of being reactive. I understand that this is a personal fault since I have been trained to observe, orient, decide, and act (OODA Loop) upon people’s actions. In hindsight, I should have been better prepared with Brett to plan and craft a script on who would be saying what throughout the discussion. This would have made it easier for each of us to interact equally with the rest of the class. Finally the last improvement would include spearheading the discussion. I felt that showing a video was the default way in examining the issue of Fallon Fox. By including a more interactive approach, like role playing or debate teams, it would have further increased the drive into more ideas on the topic. 

As mentioned earlier, facilitating the discussion was a challenge for me. As a role of a moderator, I understood that my job was to control the discussion. I felt that our solid review of literature helped drive the discussion and brought up the necessary questions to continue the class conversation. I found it interesting to listen to what others had to say about this topic. This was easier than nervously waiting to think of something creative to contribute into the discussion. If I had to compare this experience to anything else, it would have to be that initial first date or blind date with someone where you simply just ask questions. You would ask questions and sit back and develop more questions. This, in my opinion, is where I fell short and feel that I could have contributed more into the class conversation (no second date for me). I felt that I was highly knowledgeable in combat sports and this immensely helped in completing and moderating this discussion.

Facilitating the discussion was a positive learning experience. Fallon Fox presented a difficult topic to discuss which forced us to think outside the box and out of our comfort zone. I feel we accomplished our task by highlighting the social issues with transgendered athletes.