The official Paralympics TikTok account's portrayal of athletes with disabilities leaves individuals divided — some see it as "edgy and distinctive" and others discover it offensive

• Persons are divided on the official Paralympics TikTok account’s portrayal of their athletes.
• Movies on the account are seen as “offensive” to some, however others assume they’re an effective way to boost consciousness.
• The upcoming 2024 Paralympic Video games is slated to be held from August 28 to September 8 in Paris.

Viral movies from the official Paralympics TikTok account have left individuals divided. 

Whereas some have discovered the movies to be a enjoyable and smart way of elevating consciousness for the Paralympics, others have considered the account’s portrayal of athletes with disabilities as offensive.

One of many account’s most viral movies, captioned “LEFT…LEFT…LEFT…,” has over 40 million views and 4.8 million likes as of April 19.

The video reveals an athlete pedaling together with his left leg, whereas a comical music performs within the background. 

Most of its content material is of an analogous model — a brief clip of an athlete with a incapacity competing in a sport, coupled with a viral meme-like sound. 

And a few individuals have taken offense, saying that the movies are “mocking” the athletes.

—yasmin (@ycsm1n) April 17, 2023

Twitter person @ycsm1n points out a contrast between the content material being put out on the Paralympics account versus that on the Olympics account in a Twitter thread.

“Name me a snowflake all you need, I simply do not assume there’s something significantly humorous about this video,” one other Tweet of hers with greater than 600,000 views learn. 

The particular person at the moment operating the account is “a Paralympian who totally understands incapacity” who has “created a robust following via edgy and distinctive content material,” based on the Worldwide Paralympic Committee, per BBC Newsbeat. 

The committee additionally mentioned that whereas “not everybody” will just like the content material, the goal of the movies is to “educate an viewers who is likely to be much less conscious of Paralympic sport and the achievements of our athletes,” per BBC.

Some athletes with disabilities are supportive of the account’s artistic route. 

“I feel doing these movies and getting individuals to view them is simply mainly getting us observed and recognizing it is OK to have a incapacity and it is high-quality, normalize it, really feel snug round it and have fun with it,” Jess Whyte, who performs wheelchair basketball for Loughborough Lightning, informed BBC. 

However, others additionally assume that the account ought to concentrate on the achievements of Paralympic athletes.

England Amputee footballer Sean Jackson discovered it disappointing that the platform wasn’t used to “promote unbelievable athletes,” per BBC. 

“They simply select to type of mock them and switch them into memes and try to use their sport to entertain individuals from a comedic standpoint,” he informed BBC. 

The upcoming 2024 Paralympic video games is slated to be held from August 28 to September 8 in Paris, per the official Paralympic organisation web site.