Disability History Festival: David Turner - ‘Admiration or Exploitation? Disabled People and Sporting Events before the Twentieth Century’.

A recording of a public talk by Dr David Turner. Part of our Disability History Festival for the IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea.

Although the modern Paralympic movement began after the Second World War, sporting events involving people with disabilities have a longer history. During the eighteenth century, for example, there were many reports in the press of races, boxing bouts and even cricket matches involving people with physical impairments. This presentation takes a long view of disability and sport asking whether in the past the sporting feats of people with disabilities were viewed with admiration, or whether they were exploited for other people’s amusement.