The Cybathlon experience: beyond transhumanism to capability hybridization

ABSTRACT

The Cybathlon is a new kind of competition that embraces disabled people who use advanced assistive technologies. The purpose of this essay is to interpret the Cybathlon not as a ‘transhuman’ sport for enhanced athletes but as a place for experimenting with ‘capability hybridatization’ of the self. We wish to show that the figure of the transhuman cyborg that dominates the media coverage of disabled athletes is an attempt to approximate the able-bodied standard. This figure is problematic because it excludes athletes who cannot meet it. We defend the idea that capability hybridization, on the other hand, does not seek to approach a standard, but aims to promote and legitimize variedly able bodies. This article will be organized in three stages. First, we will highlight the production of the transhuman cyborg at work in contemporary disability sport. Then, we will show that this transhuman cyborg is based on ableist and heteronormative conceptions of the body that are opposed to a postmodern definition of the cyborg. Finally, we will argue that the Cybathlon, as it currently exists, is not a showcase of this transhuman cyborg but, above all, a place to experiment with a form of capability hybridization.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyborg
• technology
• disability
• sport
• transhumanism
• capability hybridization

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their useful comments. We would also like to acknowledge Paul Gaffney for his invaluable help in the publication of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Foucault (2009) distinguishes between normalization, which he describes as a process of setting norms based on Gaussian distributions, and normation, which he considers to be the disciplinary process that brings individuals back into compliance with the pre-established norm. Here the cyborg normation designates its compliance with the ableist norm.

2. http://www.trsprosthetics.com/cybathlon-winner-bob-radocy/.

3. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-s-first-cybathlon-pits-high-tech-prosthetics-against-one-another/.