Thread by @Krys_Reid

While Dinesh Herath’s world class performance brought honor to our country and region, I noticed some had questioned the legitimacy of this win, questioned his disability and some reached out to me for clarification. Here are few things I'd like to share,

1) When you hear the word disability, you immediately think of someone who uses a wheelchair, a hearing aid, a white cane, and so on. However, did you know that not all disabilities are visible? Invisible disabilities, or hidden disabilities are primarily neurological in nature.

Chronic pains, chronic fatigue, long term depression/ anxiety, schizophrenia, autism, ADHD, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and etc. So, the gentle reminder here is that ‘Not All Disabilities Are Visible’.

Read: disabled-world.com/disability/typ…

2) Also, you would have noticed Dinesh is the winner of ‘Men's Javelin Throw F46’. According to the classifications of the Paralympic Games, F46 category under Athletics are 'Athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms...'

These guidelines and classifications are available to ensure no athlete gets an advantage over the other and to make the game fair, as much as possible.

You can find the guidelines here: olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/…

So, before you feel the need to question a persons’ achievement in 'public' do a bit of research. Bc, you're not only disrespecting the individual and the achievement, but also fostering discrimination on ones disability and diversity.

#Tokyo2020 #TokyoParalympics #WeThe15

Also under "Athletes" tab you can find information about the athletes. Their achievements, disability, and other general information. Thank you sharing this @sachp

olympics.com/tokyo-2020/par…