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Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sports
By Artemis A. W. Joukowsky III and Larry Rothstein
Preface by Christopher Reeve
Power, Speed, Agility: these qualities are necessary to any athlete. Perhaps more than any other public sports events, athletes competing with disabilities challenge us to think about these qualities and about athleticism in new and exhilarating ways. And they remind us that courage and heroism take place in the human heart and the mind—not the body. Disability sports are an expanding frontier for human achievement, showcasing the accomplishments of athletes with physical disabilities—but without limitations.
Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport, produced in association with U.S. Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee, and DoubleTake Community Service, is an intimate, visually rich, elegantly produced portrayal of the international community of disability sports: individuals with disabilities who compete in a wide panoply of events—from fencing to boccia, shotput to downhill slalom, cycling to equestrian events, swimming and wheelchair tennis to sitting volleyball and sailing. From the first international games in 1952 at Stoke Mandeville to today’s newly high-profile Paralympics and other non-elite and integrated events, the athletes who strive for excellence against physical challenges and social stigma are pioneers. They bring new depth and dignity to the human effort to succeed and excel against hostile odds.
Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport compiles the finest portraits and sports photography on this topic, and goes further, introducing the reader to the diverse, international community of athletes with disabilities via their own words, compiled from a series of interviews conducted exclusively for this book. Included are everyday athletes, as well as the stars like Shea Cowert and Marlon Shirley, “the World’s Fastest Amputees”; Jean Driscoll, pioneer of wheelchair participation in the Boston Marathon; and Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to summit Mount Everest. The book features an introduction by Phillip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, a preface by disabilities activist, the late Christopher Reeve; an historical essay by writers and advocates Artemis A.W. Joukowsky III and Larry Rothstein; and extensive resource lists. The book also examines the new technological advances in adaptive technology that have catapulted competition into new dimensions, and Matthew Belson, contributes an overview of assistive technologies. Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport aims to educate, to pay homage to, and to further advance the dialogue of what it means to be physically challenged in today’s world. New training strategies, new technology, new awareness, and new organized communities focused on these unique challenges: all these and more are celebrated in this ground-breaking publication. Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport, is a first—a breathtakingly handsome, emotionally moving, international look at para-athletes making history in sport today.