Insider Perspectives on the Sustainability of the Malaysian and Singaporean Paralympic Movements

Abstract

The paper reports on in-depth qualitative interviews with six participants involved in the Paralympic movement: One past and three present Para-athletes as well as high-ranking administrative representatives from both National Paralympic Committees of Malaysia and Singapore. These insiders share experiences and opinions on the local movements, media, and measures for future developments in the South East Asian region. Findings suggest that the Para-movements in Malaysia and Singapore are promoting the sustainability of the movement through funding opportunities and educational campaigns. Moreover, links between the persons with disabilities (PWD) community and the business landscape are increasing the inclusive culture in these societies. However, improvements can be made to promote further sustainability: more interaction between the Para-athletes and Paralympic Committees; higher remuneration for Paralympic gold medal winners in Singapore; greater media representation of Para-sports; and more visibility of PWD in public spaces.

Insider Perspectives on Saudi Arabia’s Fakher Disability Sports Programme

“…Finally, the participants expressed the need for more media coverage that emphasises the importance and significance of sports for people with disabilities. This aspect corresponds with the findings of other studies in this area, which conclude that the media still has a long way to go to improve their portrayal of Paralympians by avoiding sensationalised depictions [20,31,36]. The demand for more media coverage of people with disabilities in sports that was revealed in the present study may be due to the participants' felt need to raise the level of awareness and promote positive social attitudes towards people with disabilities and their participation in sports.…”

“…They reported that a Singaporean Paralympian received USD 147,000 for winning the Paralympic gold while her able-bodied peer received USD 737,000 for his gold. Such discrepancies were not reported between Paralympians and their able-bodied counterparts in Malaysia: In the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Malaysian Paralympian winners received USD 240,000 as did their fellow Olympian counterparts [20]. These inequalities strongly reflect the orientation and policies of countries towards supporting sports for athletes with disabilities.…”

“…Several countries have made a variety of efforts to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to become para-athletes and Paralympians. For example, in Asia, Singapore and Malaysia have made strong inroads in developing effective Paralympic initiatives that seek to offer equal opportunities for para-athletes and their able-bodied counterparts [20]. Malaysia, but not Singapore (about 1/3 in Singapore), offers the same financial rewards and support (e.g., post-athletic career programmes) to both para-athletes and able-bodied athletes [21].…”

“…Although it may appear superficially that there was a significant discrepancy between the reward given to the Paralympian and that awarded to his able-bodied peer, this difference was accountable to other considerations, namely the arbitrary injustice suffered by the Saudi Olympian that prevented him from winning the gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Brooke and Khoo [20] discussed the disparities between Paralympians and their able-bodied counterparts in their qualitative study of the issue comparing athletes in Singapore and Malaysia. They reported that a Singaporean Paralympian received USD 147,000 for winning the Paralympic gold while her able-bodied peer received USD 737,000 for his gold.…”

Athlete Identity, Resilience, Satisfaction with Life and Well-Being of Para Badminton Players: A Multinational Survey

“…The importance of athletes to have balanced success in education/vocation and sports is likely to contribute significantly to their QOL. Considering that seeking employment is challenging for people with disability, effort to address discrepancies in renumerations and support system between disabled and able-bodied athletes is a much welcome move towards improving the QOL for disabled athletes ( 29 ).…”