“More than Medals” sets the stage for Tokyo Paralympics First-of-its-Kind Historical Analysis
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Keywords
Paralympics, Japan, identity
Abstract
This book review of “More than Medals” by Dennis J. Frost highlights the numerous strengths of this text’s coverage of the Paralympic movement in Japan. The first of such historical accounts written in English, Frost describes the progression to current day through analysis of five disabled sports events from the post-World War II era to the upcoming Paralympic Games in Tokyo. This text initiates an important call to action in ending the Eurocentric portrayal of the Paralympic movement with greater inclusion of Eastern perspectives.
References
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Howe, David. 2008. The Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Movement: Through an Anthropological Lens. London: Routledge.
Van der Veere, Anoma. “The Tokyo Paralympic Superhero: Manga and Narratives of Disability in Japan.” The Asia-Pacific Journal , 1 Mar. 2020.
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Aman Misra, Independent Adapted Sports Researcher
Born and raised in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, Aman Misra is a deaf journalist who progressively lost his hearing during his teenage and young adult years.
He holds an MA in Mass Communication (Journalism) from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communications (SIMC), Pune, Maharashtra.
Through his school years, Aman was a competitive swimmer and today continues to be an avid golfer in Kolkata. Despite being raised in a home that encouraged sport, Aman is yet to venture into the competitive deaf sport spaces.
As a journalist, Aman has worked for the Indian Express, ESPNCricinfo, Wisden India, and Golf Digest India. He has covered cricket and golf in India. Aman has also covered the local news beat in the west Indian city of Pune, written about music, and authored Sunday features for the Indian Express back page. At ESPN, he worked with the television input team at their Mumbai studio. His role was to research and write scripts for digital content.
In 2018, after his stint at ESPN, Aman began co-partnering with his mother Mayura Misra at their family-owned bookstore in Kolkata. Together, today, they run one of India’s leading independent children’s bookshops. The duo work with schools, parents, teachers, and children across South Asia. They also host interactive sessions with authors both at home and abroad.
Aman also currently writes a column on children's books for the T2, a supplement of the English Daily The Telegraph.
His research work is deep-rooted within intersectional areas of adapted sport, media, and communication within the Global South context. He has directed a documentary on women’s cricket in India and published a narrative about his experience as a young Indian with a disability. Verticals that he has written for include The Telegraph, Scroll.in, The Wire, amongst others.
Kara Ayers, University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCCEDD)
Dr. Kara Ayers is the Associate Director and an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCCEDD), which is a part of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She is the Director of the Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities.
Dr. Ayers’ interests include disability identity/culture, bioethics, community inclusion, and the use of media to teach, empower, and reduce stigma. She infuses the mantra, “Nothing about us without us,” into her scholarly and community-based pursuits.