Following the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Games, Andy Stevenson, Producer of Whisper, a U.K. TV production company, will make programs covering the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics for broadcasts in the U.K. He has been involved in the Paralympics coverage as reporter and producer, displaying his multiple talents on TV and radio. “Disability is individuality” said Mr. Stevenson, who was born with impaired arms and left leg.
Mr. Stevenson presented three important points for Paralympics broadcasts. First, in order to draw audience attention to exquisite performance of Paralympians, it is necessary to make audience to empathize with the athletes by introducing their back stories including how they have been facing up to impairment. Secondly, program producers must listen to the voice of para-athletes and understand them, which will be a trigger for novel Paralympics broadcasts. Thirdly, he stressed the importance of adding perspectives of persons with an impairment by incorporating them in production teams for covering Paralympic Games, where athletes with an impairment take center stage. This was actually displayed by the U.K television industry’s adoption of a system at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games to train and appoint persons with an impairment as production staff members.
For the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Mr. Stevenson plans to produce a Paralympics-related program for children because it may serve as the very first opportunity for many children to see persons with an impairment, and, unlike adults, children do not have preconceived ideas about them. He said producing children’s programs on the Paralympics would be crucial when looking ahead to the future.