Predictive Paralympic opening evokes attention on disabilities

As the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremony took place on Wednesday, a new report on disabilities from the International Labor Organization (ILO) seeks to raise awareness of disabilities around the world, reported Xinhua.

The new ILO working paper, entitled "significant disability wage gap", was also released on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland, saying "higher unemployment rates, lower earnings and a tendency towards self-employment characterize the world-of-work experience of many people with disabilities."

"People with disabilities are less likely to be part of the labour market and they tend to earn less," according to the ILO report.

New data shows that disabled workers are paid 12 percent less per hour than their able-bodied counterparts, and that most of that gap cannot be explained by "differences in education, age and type of work". That discrepancy is even worse for women with disabilities.

The Paris Paralympic opening ceremony evoked the same concern, saying "we witness a journey from misunderstanding to mutual respect, where creativity and sport become the bridges that connect these two groups (Strict Society and Creative Gang). Each artistic sequence tells the story of how these performers meet, rediscover each other, and work together to create and celebrate a new, more inclusive, and peaceful society."

The theme of Paradox between the two groups ran throughout the series of the performances of the opening ceremony, when the organizers tried to let the "Strict Society" start realizing their prejudices, overcoming physical differences and showing a vision of a new and inclusive competition where unity and equality succeed.

It is estimated that 1.3 billion people experience significant disability, according to ILO's 2021 figure, an increase of 300 million from the figure given in their 2016 report.

"The findings further suggest that people with disabilities may tend towards self-employment because of the potentially greater flexibility it offers in terms of working hours, access to work facilities and avoidance of discrimination," the report claimed.

The ILO paper suggested a number of measures to improve the labor market participation of individuals with disabilities, including making online recruitment and related processes more accessible, greater support for employers to encourage the hiring of persons with disabilities and supporting disabled employees with appropriate adaptation measures to facilitate their work.

Alexander Ekman, artistic director of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremony, said: "To begin our research, my team and I started the process about a year ago by talking to Paralympic athletes and people with disabilities, reading studies and asking questions. We understood very quickly. They all wanted not just an entertaining show, but something real and meaningful. We came to the conclusion that we needed to create a moment of celebration that expressed important messages."

The message the opening ceremony has given is that "it is sport and creativity that allow us to open the way to discovering others".