Left: 
Dr Carla Filomena Silva representing PASCCAL at the
9th Lancaster Disability Studies conference, Centre for Disability Research, Lancaster University, 11 September 2018
Despite issues around sport being often seen as extravagant or secondary to disability advocates, activists and scholars — especially in the context of ongoing fundamental challenges concerning access to employment and social benefits — Dr Carla Silva argued in this presentation that access to movement opportunities can play an essential role in one’s physical, cognitive, social and cultural development. Far from being a minor issue, she suggested that the Paralympics and other shows that mainstream disability can function as tools for a critical public pedagogy, educating the public about disability issues that otherwise remain largely a private matter.
Dr Silva’s analysis of the British television show “The Last Leg” also highlighted the potential of humor to illuminate, negotiate, ridicule and ultimately soften the separation between the abled and disabled worlds.
If you’d like to learn (or laugh) more about this, here is the show’s very own YouTube channel!