Zareena reflects on the Paralympics in Paris so far, including chats with athletes, adaptive sports, and a unique sensory dining experience.
Paris, France (04 September 2024) – I don’t always know how to act around people with disabilities, uncertain when to offer help or when to allow them their independence. Before coming to Paris, I went to the first Paralympic team announcement and got a bit of an education. My teacher in this regard was one Shaun Anderson, a three-time Paralympian and a self-admitted wild child in his day. The thing about both Shaun and I is that we both give as much as we get. So, it took about 90 seconds for us to start pushing each other’s buttons, all in good fun. Which is fine for him, but from the outside looking in, I am throwing well-directed barbs at a man in a wheelchair with one arm.
Thankfully, when I asked him if there is anything I should know about Paralympians, he said, “Just treat us as the normal people we are.” He told me he can spot fake people a mile away, and that’s what makes it uncomfortable. So, that is what I have been doing—being as normal as I can be while learning as much as I can.
A Day at Apollo Boxing Club
One of my adventures took me to the Apollo Boxing Club, where I took part in an adaptive boxing session organised by the kind folks at the Paris Media Centre. Over the better part of a decade, the Paris Government has been increasing their capacity and opening up spaces for more people to enjoy. This includes both vulnerable people, such as those with PTSD, depression, anxiety or fighting poverty or domestic abuse, but also people with disabilities. The gym is open to everyone, including those with mental, emotional, or physical disabilities.
It’s easy to say someone in a wheelchair can’t do things, and so there is a conscious effort to reframe the narrative. That’s what they do at Apollo and a number of other clubs around. They meet participants where they are at. The coaches are trained to understand the limitations each person faces but also to push them to do what they may not have thought possible. I watched a couple of rounds of folks in wheelchairs ducking and punching with intense concentration. Some things are simple, like making sure that the pads the boxes are aiming for are different colours to limit confusion. Some people can’t duck and just sway slightly to one side, and that’s the adaptive part of it. The words stay the same, but you do what you can as safely and honestly aggressively as you can. Living a sedentary life isn’t good for anyone, and that includes people with disabilities.
More Than a Meal at Dans Le Noir?
When my round was up, we, myself and four other regulars, got into the ring with the coach who happens to be a heavyweight, at least that’s what he told me after instructing me to kick him. So I did, as hard as I could, to cheers from my new friends. It was a reminder that you don’t make others bigger by shrinking. We all do what we can with passion and force and that’s how we get better. The rest of the journos stood behind their cameras and laughed at me, occasionally telling me I was good but I have seen the videos. I am not good but as with Shaun, I don’t hold back and sometimes that can seem impressive. Unfortunately, the video also shows how much I feel the need to enunciate when talking to someone who doesn’t speak the language. Safe to say I will not be sharing the video and now know the limits of expressions and I am on a mission to learn how to hold them back. It’s… a lot.
But having tried wheelchair basketball, then adaptive boxing, my next stop was Restaurant Dans Le Noir. Lunch in a blacked-out room with blind waitstaff and an unknown menu. I couldn’t go with the group because Shaun won his first round, somewhat unexpectedly, so I had to stay for the next round which he was leading until the last three arrows. But sport comes first generally. Team South Africa sport always comes first on this trip. So if he had won, I would have cancelled lunch. I actually wasn’t even planning on going to the archery, but Shaun is so charismatic and he told me he would see us there so there we were.
So, I rushed to lunch. And was lead in after the group in general but about 20 minutes before the meal. It was bliss. I don’t think I allowed myself to fully think about how tiring this whole trip has been for me, an introvert. I have gone out and done things that I suddenly have the opportunity to do because I am in Paris, and it was the Olympics and is the Paralympics. So I don’t want to miss a thing. But sitting there waiting for my eyes to adjust (they never did) without anyone knowing who I am or even that I was there for a while was just what I needed.
A Lesson in Sensory Dining
You couldn’t see the South African cap and ask me if I am from Melbourne, and when I look confused, ask if I am from Melbourne or Sydney. Or make me have a conversation with you because you are from Germany but lived in the Netherlands and now stay in Paris, so insist that we speak Afrikaans so I end up telling you that I write for “die Goeie Dinge Man” and then have a 20-minute conversation where I smile a lot and have no real idea what is happening. Or have your colleagues translate that you think that I could be pretty if I spoke French. It’s been a long trip, and I wouldn’t change it for anything, but it’s been full-on, and I just needed a moment to just be. It was just what I needed.
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But more than being a break, it was an education. I don’t know if you have ever shared bread or poured a glass of water without being able to see anything, but it was a challenge. I had to slow down and think. We had a main and a dessert and when my table mates asked for bread I asked what do I have the bread with and they said, “Everything, we are French.” So when we walked out and found out the menu it turns out I had bread and risotto followed by a creamy, fruity meringue dessert. I knew some of that but I missed a lot of it. It is often said that we eat with our eyes, but it wasn’t just figuring out what I was eating; it was also understanding that I was done eating or that the food was finished. It was freeing knowing it was only for an hour and humbling for the rest of my trip if not longer.
Subtitle: Reflections and Realizations
So, lessons learned:
- People are not their limitations or their successes.
- We do what we can.
- Exercise is important.
- Either learn languages or have a strong sense of humour, both would be better.
- Give yourself time to switch off.
- Experience everything you can.
Zareena Gaibee will be on the ground in Paris for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics events, sharing her take on the prestigious sporting event, giving exclusive insights into life at the games, and hopefully meeting many of the South Africans in Paris who are competing and supporting. She will be reporting her findings for Good Things Guy, giving readers a glimpse of what flying the flag in Paris is all about.
You can follow her series via Good Things Guy here.
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