• Spot on Tara. I wonder if hard attitudes would soften if policies were named for the children themselves with debate directed at documents called Raising Future Australians Bill, Bringing Up Baby Bill, Children Are Our Future .... It should be blindingly obvious to all, even those without children, that the health and well-being of the very young is of paramount importance. - Dianne
  • "When a sick fourteen month-old baby needs her mum….or dad. No it’s not. There’s no contest. Sick baby wins!" "If sick baby wins", why was it ok for sick baby to wait 5 days? Mum requested on Monday... for leave on Thursday. And then when granted leave, mum spends the afternoon doing radio and television interviews. Seems more like sick baby wins when it's politically convenient. We've moved from misogyny and onto sick babies, this Parliament's new football. - Joe
  • Hey KF, more power to you and me and anyone who has to FIGHT for our loved ones who can't fight for themselves. One day at a time. Sometimes one hour at a time. Metoo- here's hoping you never have to walk a mile in our shoes- for a multitude of reasons, and my last word- I don't see it as "locking up" my aunt I see it as an honor to make sure she is safe, looked after and comfortable for the rest of her life Good luck to everyone, Robyn - Roby
  • Tara, this article is brilliant. Agree with every word. - Nicole Madigan
  • Santorini..... - Katherine Basher
  • Very moving. Everyone I know who had done this has been touched by it. - Jo
  • I have to disagree with a few things in this article. Mothers have never been better supported than they are now. 12 years ago I didn't get a baby bonus and I only got 16% childcare rebate. Now families get 50% rebate on childcare. 12 years ago there was no paid maternity leave option from the government and the paid maternity leave from my work was 6 weeks, now it's increased to 8 weeks. A colleague told me last year she took 8 weeks at half pay (over 16 weeks) and then got 18 weeks paid maternity leave from the government so she could take over 8 months off with pay. There is also paternity leave available now where I work which wasn't available 12 years ago. However I do agree with Tara Moss about Newstart. Giving single parents the Newstart allowance is pathetic and I challenge any politician to try and live on it for 6 months and pay a mortgage or rent and see how they survive. We also still have a long way to go on gender equality when it comes to pay scales but hopefully with more women in the workforce it will help the cause. - Not That Bad
  • Wonderful. I always ask myself will someone die if I fuck up? Will it matter in 3 months? And who fucking cares? Works for me. The swearing part is important apparently. ;-) x - Michaela C
  • Our focus on women and children and their difficulties ignores the elephant in the room. Where is the father/partner in this equation? Where is the support, financial responsibilty, active participation and general parental sharing by partners/fathers? Where are they all? Why has the focus on women and children left them invisible and unaccountable? Is it because we don't expect men to take care of their responsibilities, or is it too hard any issue to deal with? I fully acknowledge that there are many exceptions, including death of a partner, abuse and violence, and other diverse reasons, but is there no way we can broaden the debate to include the responsibilities of partners/fathers? Just a thought. - Nel Matheson
  • Can we please clarify that not all single parent families were moved from PPS to Newstart - only those who were grandfathered by the Howard government when they brought in the changes many moons ago. It was Howard and his cronies that singled out and privileged a group of single parents, allowing them to recevie more than anyone in similar circumstances who didn't benefit from the grandfathering, or never received PPS in the first place (Not everyone's marriage ends before their youngest child turns eight). While I don't believe that Newstart is sufficient to live on and raise children easily I am very much against this focus that has been placed and what is in reality a small group of people. How about fighting to put everyone on PPS or to increase Newstart rather than just a few. - Carz
 
11
Categories:  News and Opinion

HERE COME THE THE PARALYMPICS!

By Louise Sauvage
August 14, 2012

Coming down from the rush of sport, sport, sport?

Don’t know what to do with yourself ?

Then don’t despair, in just 14 days, the Paralympics are coming!

 

Louise at full throttle. Photograph via ALLSPORT.

We all know what the Olympics (or the ‘test event’, as I like to call it), are about. The Summer Olympic games offer sport for able-bodied athletes… then there are the Paralympics which are, of course, the premier event!

It’s the highest level of sport for athletes with a disability.

A brief history lesson: The first Paralympics were held in Rome 1960. There were 23 countries competing; 400 athletes and 8 sports on offer, but this was just the beginning. In 1976 the first Winter Paralympics were held in Sweden.

Since these humble beginnings, Paralympic sport has grown enormously and consequently been held every four years. Paralympic sport has a system in place which ensures that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus – the same factors that account for success in sport for able-bodied athletes.

This system is called “classification” and athletes are classified for different sports based on their individual functional ability.

Which of course leads us to London 2012!

There will be 165 countries competing in 20 sports with more than 4200 athletes. This will be the biggest Paralympic games, ever, with more than one million tickets already sold and an expected global audience of 3.8 billion people.

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11 Responses to this article

  1. Mez August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Good luck to your girls, Louise and the entire paralympic team!

     
  2. The Huntress August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Yeeha, good luck! I will especially make sure I watch out for your girls and I will be getting my son to watch. He was fascinated by the olympics, but distracted by his birthday and the up and coming celebrations, so missed a lot of it. I think the paraolympics will show him just how impressive the feats of these athletes are.

     
  3. Aeron Winters August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Good luck to all of our paralympians. I can’t wait to watch. I love the paralympics.

     
  4. sami August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Yay! I hope it’s televised as much as the ‘normal’ olympics! Sport is sport, no matter who is competing. And as an able-bodied person who has attempted wheelchair basketball I can definitely say it is NOT easy! I’ve been to wheelcats games and watched wheelchair rugby scratch matches and they are both intense, so I can only imagine how it would be at paralympic level. I’m excited :)

     
    • Barbara August 14, 2012 Reply
       
       

      HI Sami, I think you will probably get better coverage being on the ABC.

       
    • Barbara August 14, 2012 Reply
       
       

      HI Sami, I think you will probably get better coverage being on the ABC.

       
  5. Barbara August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Why doesn’t the regular channel broadcast the Paralympics, I think this is totally wrong!

     
  6. Barbara August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Why doesn’t the regular channel broadcast the Paralympics, I think this is totally wrong!

     
  7. Carole August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I really enjoy watching the Paralympics. I really respect the courage, determination and sportsmanship these athletes display.
    Good luck to them all.

     

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Comments

  • Dianne: Spot on Tara. I wonder if hard attitudes would soften if policies were named for the children themselves with debate dir...

    Reply|Read all

  • Joe: "When a sick fourteen month-old baby needs her mum….or dad. No it’s not. There’s no contest. Sick baby wins!" "...

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  • Roby: Hey KF, more power to you and me and anyone who has to FIGHT for our loved ones who can't fight for themselves. One day...

    Reply|Read all

  • Nicole Madigan: Tara, this article is brilliant. Agree with every word.

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