Today’s post is by Shruti Pushkarna, an inclusion and diversity advocate. As an inclusion & diversity advocate she works closely with Civil Society Organizations, Corporate Sponsors and Government bodies engaged in promoting equity and equality. As regular columnist she is working with popular media portals and special interest help groups in India and the US for raising awareness on inclusion of vulnerable members of the society.
______________________________________________________________________________
Media’s lens has long been my battlefield. When I stepped away from the glittering world of television news, it wasn’t just a career shift—it was a deliberate choice to challenge how we perceive disability. Every frame, every narrative has the power to either perpetuate harmful stereotypes or dismantle deeply entrenched societal biases.
World Down Syndrome Day this year gifted me a profound cinematic experience. The Spanish film ‘Campeones‘ wasn’t just a screening; it was a collective journey. Surrounded by parents, disability rights advocates, and individuals with diverse abilities, I witnessed storytelling that transcends conventional narratives. Days later, ‘Next Goal Wins‘ reinforced my belief—sports can be a powerful equalizer, revealing the extraordinary within what society often perceives as ordinary. Both comedy dramas revolve around so-to-say ‘weaker’ teams, constituted of players who are ‘different’, those who don’t fit into our normal (read limited) perception of sportspersons.
This isn’t mere coincidence. My own journalistic roots trace back to a transformative moment—my first video project where I documented the Indian team’s journey since the first World Cup Cricket for the Blind in 1998. Working alongside the visionary founder of the World Blind Cricket Council, I learned that representation is more than visibility. It’s about shifting perspectives, about making people see ability where they’re conditioned to see limitation.
In the intricate tapestry of media representation, each thread matters. And I’m committed to reweaving those threads, one story at a time.
Campeones, Spanish for Champions, is a 2018 film directed by Javier Fesser which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. It is inspired by the true account of The Aderes Basketball team in Valencia, created with people with intellectual disabilities who won 12 Spanish championships between 1999 and 2014.
Marco Montes, assistant coach of a basketball team based in Madrid, gets fired from the job following his arrogant conduct. Hitting a police car in a state of drunkenness, Marco is ordered to either spend two years in jail or ninety days of community service, as Coach to Los Amigos, a team of basketball players with intellectual disabilities. At first, he is frustrated with this new assignment, unable to relate to players he feels are below normal (subnormales). But as he works closely with the team, he learns about each player’s unique story, strengths and weaknesses. The common thread binding them is persistence and the desire to play well.
Throughout the film, in the comic episodes, in the tense backdrop of Marco’s troubled relationships (personal and professional), the audience gets to witness the similarities in human narratives. Marco has his own set of hurdles to cross, like the players of Los Amigos. As he coaches them to overcome barriers on the court, he unties several knots in his own marriage, discovering fresh perspectives to look at life and challenges. In the end, Los Amigos place second in the National Championship.
I watched this film at a special screening organised in the capital on World Down Syndrome Day. What fascinated me the most was the director’s choice of casting disabled actors in the roles of all the players with disabilities. Giving them an opportunity to flaunt their prowess and represent themselves rather than relying on non-disabled actors to simply play the part. An absolute entertaining and hilarious saga, I watched the climactic moments of the final game with my mouth wide open.
The second film is a 2023 American sports comedy directed by Taika Waititi. Michael Fassbender plays the lead role of Thomas Rongen in Next Goal Wins. It is based on a documentary of the same name, about a Dutch American coach (Rongen) who is also forced, following a series of events, to coach the weakest soccer teams in the world. It’s the story of the American Samoa soccer team who suffered a terrible loss in World Cup history, losing 31-0 to Australia in 2001. Rongen struggles to work with this infamous set of ‘losers’, turning them into an elite squad. Under his training, the American Samoa team qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
While there are no persons with disabilities in this context, there are characters representing marginalised communities. It is a disparate group of players including a transgender defender (Jaiyah Saelua), a traumatised goalkeeper (Nicky Salapu), and an overweight midfielder (Rambo). Rongen deals with his own weaknesses and fears, as he motivates the team to focus on their strengths. The result is a nearly impossible feat of scoring goals and winning the game.
In the sporting arena, differences cease to be. And many similarities emerge. In both the films, the coaches traverse complex personal landscapes gaining valuable lessons from the diverse set of players.
While Champions and Next Goal Wins iterate the power of sports to include and empower, the two cinematic representations also bring out the multi-dimensional human sides of persons with disabilities and diverse identities. Something which helps the audience resonate with episodes on-screen.
Isn’t it time the India media catches up and goes beyond a stereotypical narrative of diversity? Can celebration of differences replace inspirational porn and ableist chronicling in the mainstream media?
P.S. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan began shooting for an Indian remake of Spanish movie Campeones in January 2024.
This post is a part of “International Day of Persons with Disability” blog hop hosted by Sakshi Varma – Tripleamommy. #IDPD2024Bloghop. Access all posts of this bloghop at https://tripleamommy.com/2024/12/02/beyond-barriers-amplifying-voices-for-inclusion-marking-idpd-2024/
_____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Thanks for reading this post. Please like, comment and share!
Regards, Sakshi aka tripleamommy
You can find me at:
Blog: https://tripleamommy.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tripleamommmy
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/tripleamommmy/
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Tripleamommy-2101887313189940
Pinterest: https://in.pinterest.com/tripleamommmy/
Do consider buying my book “Raising Capable Children” that shares hundreds of tips and ideas on bringing up confident children. See below for buying options.
India – Amazon: https://amzn.to/3j3QSrx ; Flipkart: https://www.flipkart.com/raising-capable-children/p/itm2134c13e7108f?pid=9789390267033
For US and UK- https://www.amazon.com/dp/939026703X ; https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/939026703X