Tanni Grey-Thompson – ‘The one that got away’: a theological analysis of foeticide, infanticide and the deviant Paralympic success story

Abstract

In this essay, I apply a theological perspective to argue that the Paralympic Games, its athletes and the media, unwittingly collude to demonstrate contempt towards the killing of disabled children, whilst claiming that disability equality has been improved or achieved. I argue that British Paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was destined to succeed because many of her potential competitors were denied the right to life. British newspapers and publicly available figures related to the killing of disabled children in the United Kingdom are contrasted against the positive narrative about disabled people promoted by the International Paralympic Committee. I make reference to Christian bio-medical ethics to draw attention to the medical profession’s negative attitudes towards disabled people in the early 1900s, which provided execution techniques for the Nazi holocaust. I conclude by contending that the genocide of disabled children continues unabated despite the positive and dominant discourse attached to the Paralympic Games.

Notes

1. All Bible references in this essay are from the 1989 edition of the New International Version (NIV).