Knocking down barriers

Mat Fraser has form in the martial arts field – in the ‘dynamic self-defence’ he is clearly pretty useful and from which, presumably, he can count on a level of respect from those in the know. His purpose also lies outside the discipline of the ring. He can probably handle himself in a fight – a claim that few disabled people can make. That’s an enviable skill to have, so what did he have to prove by learning to cage-fight? The extreme and brutal sport is struggling for respectability and to its critics it is nothing more than legalised street fighting.

The world loves a trier. But in this arena, the self-styled ‘thalidomide ninja’ was forced to admit that he fell well short of competing with wider society on that utopian ‘level playing field’. The truth is that unless disabled contestants are given advantages or their opponents are similarly handicapped they almost never can. Mat had a real pop but, even protected from the imposed ban on grapples and face and upper-chest shots, it was inevitable his opponents would give it rather less than 100%.

The key word is almost never. Success can be achieved by focusing on collective strengths and working as a team. This summer saw two disabled crews compete full-on against able-bodied ones in the Admiral’s Cup sailing event at Cowes. Without asking for or receiving any concessions, they achieved creditable results in every race they contested. They managed it through the simple process of selecting crewmembers whose individual disabilities did not handicap them from carrying out their particular duties – pulling ropes, navigation, tactics and so on – and so were rendered irrelevant in the context of the crew as a unit.

The results weren’t wholly important anyway. The most heartening achievement from the event was the fact that the crews knocked down a huge barrier. They created a precedent and who is to say that, by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing or beyond, we do not see defectors from the Paralympics competing with their able-bodied counterparts in multi-crew sailing events, or other sports? Maybe not the high jump, or the discus, but why not archery or target shooting?

Others will follow. During the Manchester Commonwealth Games, disabled athletes competed as part of the main programme – by 2012 there may not even have to be a Paralympics. There will always have to be parallel events, but the barriers built up through years of ignorance and prejudice will lie smashed in their wake.

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