Title
'I think they were shocked to see people going all out to win and being in buckets of tears if they didn't': Shuna Body on changing attitudes toward disability sport.
Subject
Shuna Body
Description
An excerpt of an oral history recording with Shuna Body, in which she describes how the 2012 London Paralympics helped change people's perceptions of disability sport. (Transcript attached.)
Creator
Michael Romyn; Shuna Body
Publisher
Kent's Sporting Memories
Date
Interview recorded on 6 March, 2020
Contributor
Shuna Body; Michael Romyn
Rights
Kent's Sporting Memories
Relation
Shuna Body Oral History Recording
Format
MP3; Microsoft Word Document
Language
English
Type
Sound recording; typed transcript
Identifier
Shuna Body
Text
Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Transcript (Excerpt)
Interviewee: Shuna Body
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 6 March, 2020
Location: CARM Offices, Appledore Kent
Recording Time: 47:00 – 49:10
MR: Have you come up against exclusionary attitudes while working with disabled athletes?
SB: I think it was ignorance. And I think one of the best things I did for 2012 - I had a very dear friend who, we used to beg to differ because he used to say, 'Well, you know, I get what you're doing with disabled people and it's really great but it's not sport - you can't tell me that they train as hard as, you know, the able bodied athletes', and wouldn't have it, and he said 'and the quality isn’t there', erm, and to be fair in previous Paralympics it probably hadn't been. So I, luckily I had access to quite a few free tickets so I, I gave him a load of free tickets in sports that I knew he'd be interested and he phoned me up and said my mind has been blown! And he said thank you so much for making me go, and I take back all I've ever said, so. And it was really good to see people actually realise that, I think people still thought it was a bit of a nicety, I think they, I think they were shocked to see people going out, all out to win and being in buckets of tears if they didn't and, erm, yeah, so, it was good.
MR: Is that a legacy of 2012 - that people's attitudes have changed?
SB: Oh totally. I mean prior to 2012 none of my friends ever asked me about wheelchair fencing. They knew I did it, they knew I spent most of my life doing it, but even when it was a Paralympic year they never asked, no one was ever interested. But now all the time people, you know, 'How are you guys doing?', and 'What's the latest?', and that felt quite odd really. Nicely odd, because there just hadn't been an interest really.
--Ends --
Interviewee: Shuna Body
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 6 March, 2020
Location: CARM Offices, Appledore Kent
Recording Time: 47:00 – 49:10
MR: Have you come up against exclusionary attitudes while working with disabled athletes?
SB: I think it was ignorance. And I think one of the best things I did for 2012 - I had a very dear friend who, we used to beg to differ because he used to say, 'Well, you know, I get what you're doing with disabled people and it's really great but it's not sport - you can't tell me that they train as hard as, you know, the able bodied athletes', and wouldn't have it, and he said 'and the quality isn’t there', erm, and to be fair in previous Paralympics it probably hadn't been. So I, luckily I had access to quite a few free tickets so I, I gave him a load of free tickets in sports that I knew he'd be interested and he phoned me up and said my mind has been blown! And he said thank you so much for making me go, and I take back all I've ever said, so. And it was really good to see people actually realise that, I think people still thought it was a bit of a nicety, I think they, I think they were shocked to see people going out, all out to win and being in buckets of tears if they didn't and, erm, yeah, so, it was good.
MR: Is that a legacy of 2012 - that people's attitudes have changed?
SB: Oh totally. I mean prior to 2012 none of my friends ever asked me about wheelchair fencing. They knew I did it, they knew I spent most of my life doing it, but even when it was a Paralympic year they never asked, no one was ever interested. But now all the time people, you know, 'How are you guys doing?', and 'What's the latest?', and that felt quite odd really. Nicely odd, because there just hadn't been an interest really.
--Ends --