Exploring the Culture of Disability at the Paralympic Games

This week the London Paralympic Games have brought increased attention to people with disabilities, built upon the athletes and the artistic community represented in the Cultural Olympiad celebrations.  Artistic expression is just one part of the larger narrative of the disability culture, in which the voices of the disabled are outlets of both personal expression, and a farther-reaching means of education. Sue Austin is an artist participating in the Unlimited Festival of the Cultural Olympiad. Sue has designed a self-propelled underwater wheelchair, and has captured on film her gentle underwater movement in the chair. Phyllis Boerner is the Community Relations Director of United Disability Services, and the director of United Disability Service’s arts magazine, Kaleidoscope.