As the Independent points out, the Deaflympics suffers from a lack of media attention. There have been some dribbles and dabs of Deaflympics news in the mainstream media, however, in the past week or two. Lots of papers celebrate winners from local areas. Others celebrate national heroes. I was curious about how these papers presented Deaf competitors. What I've seen is that, except for the occasional comment about decibel loss, most of the media has presented these competitors as simply athletes. No pity, no false sympathy, and nothing melodramatic about "if only they could hear the birds and babies and other things beginning with b." The only thing which came across as mildly offensive was the portrayal of a competitor from Delhi as "deaf and mute"–but I don't think it's worth complaining about, because that athlete has made a career being known as the "mute wrestler" (Goonga Pehelwan in Hindi.)
I do additionally feel that the Deaflympics were a missed opportunity in Deaf media. I'd have loved to see it in many more places, including television. For those of you who missed events,
check out this website - it has a variety of videos organized by a calendar of events.
Thoughts about the portrayal of the Deaflympics in the media?
Here's a roundup of what I've seen. Feel free to add more articles in the comments:
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