{"id":4044,"date":"2025-01-09T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T09:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2024-12-06T11:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T10:01:05","slug":"hybrid-performances-in-sport-cybathlon-spectatorship-for-critically-imagining-technologies-for-disability-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2025\/01\/09\/hybrid-performances-in-sport-cybathlon-spectatorship-for-critically-imagining-technologies-for-disability-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid Performances in Sport: Cybathlon Spectatorship for Critically Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Article Summary by Edmund Barker and Harry Parker<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Assistive technologies, such as wheelchairs and prosthetic legs, have been helping some people participate in Sport who wouldn\u2019t be able to otherwise. In some ways these technologies have helped to make disability more present and visible across many sporting cultures. For the most part, however, differently abled bodies continue to be excluded from, or negatively positioned in, these public arenas. Advanced technologies, such as robotic exoskeletons and brain-computer interfaces, are starting to feature in new sporting events such as the CYBATHON. Accounting for recent trends and controversies we suggest that there is no clear way forward: neither promoting nor policing the use of such technologies provides simple answers to the marginalisation of disability in sport.<\/p>\n<p>This paper responds to this impasse. We follow recent developments to imagine what future sports might look like, creating comic strips that bring these to life. We discuss these futures, unpacking the possible positive and negative implications for people with disabilities. Staying faithful to the complexity of these issues we do not argue for a specific direction of travel. Instead, the paper concludes by highlighting key tensions that will need to be navigated as the relationships between sport, technology, and the (dis)abled body continue to shift.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the authors discuss the article:<\/p>\n<p><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4044-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2024\/11\/Barker-Edmund-and-Harry-Parker-Hybrid-Performances-in-Sport-Cybathlon-Spectatorship-for-Critically-Imagining-Technologies-for-Disability-Futures.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2024\/11\/Barker-Edmund-and-Harry-Parker-Hybrid-Performances-in-Sport-Cybathlon-Spectatorship-for-Critically-Imagining-Technologies-for-Disability-Futures.mp3\">https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2024\/11\/Barker-Edmund-and-Harry-Parker-Hybrid-Performances-in-Sport-Cybathlon-Spectatorship-for-Critically-Imagining-Technologies-for-Disability-Futures.mp3<\/a><\/audio><!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article Summary by Edmund Barker and Harry Parker Assistive technologies, such as wheelchairs and prosthetic legs, have been helping some people participate in Sport who wouldn\u2019t be able to otherwise. In some ways these technologies have helped to make disability more present and visible across many sporting cultures. For the most part, however, differently abled [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2025\/01\/09\/hybrid-performances-in-sport-cybathlon-spectatorship-for-critically-imagining-technologies-for-disability-futures\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15028,15047],"tags":[15044],"class_list":["post-4044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-announcements","category-special-issues","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hybrid Performances in Sport: Cybathlon Spectatorship for Critically Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edmund Barker and Harry Parker use comic strips to explore the future of sports and assisted technologies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hybrid Performances in Sport: Cybathlon Spectatorship for Critically Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures - Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edmund Barker and Harry Parker use comic strips to explore the future of sports and assisted technologies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-09T09:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\"},\"headline\":\"Hybrid Performances in Sport: Cybathlon Spectatorship for Critically Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-09T09:00:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044\"},\"wordCount\":243,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Journal Announcements\",\"Special Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=4044\",\"name\":\"Hybrid Performances in Sport: Cybathlon Spectatorship for Critically Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures - 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