Washington D.C., Aug 30, 2021 / 10:01 am
A Catholic disability advocate praised an increase of television and media coverage for this year’s Paralympic Games, saying it will help normalize disability.
“It is important that the presence of persons with disabilities is normalized in all aspects of society. Disability is an ordinary part of life,” said Julia Gilberto, the manager of programs and resource development at the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, in an interview with CNA.
“Before this year, the Paralympics were in a sense, ‘in the shadows,’” Gilberto said. “There is no reason that the gifts, stories, and achievements of persons with disabilities should be in the shadows.”
According to NBC, which broadcasts the Olympics and Paralympics in the United States, the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics will receive about 1,200 hours of programming on the network’s various broadcast and digital platforms. In contrast, NBC in 2016 had promised to air more than 70 hours of coverage of the Rio Paralympics.