The workshop takes place at Salone Ulisse dell’Accademia delle Scienze, Via Zamboni 31,40126, Bologna: https://maps.app.goo.gl/u398DJjTCiMWXnxP7 and is open to all.
Draft Programme:
DAY 1 Monday July 1st
9:30-10:00 Greetings by the project PIs and general introduction of speakers.
10:00-11:15 1st paper ZAMORA-BONILLA “Diseases as social problems, or blame it on the boogie”
Comfort break 15’
11:30-12:45 2nd paper VESTERINEN“Ameliorative Explanatory Pluralism in Psychiatry”
13:00-15:00 Lunch break
15:00 -16:15 3rd paper MALINOWSKA“Revising the Notion of Whiteness in Research on Racism and Health Inequities in relation to the European East-West Health Gap”
Comfort break 15’
16:30-17:45 4th paperLUDWIG“Southern Ontologies: Re-orienting agendas in Social Ontology”
DAY 2 Tuesday July 2nd
9:30-10:45 5th paper REYDON “The twofold normativity in biological taxa”
“Why we should eliminate the distinction between the Olympics and the Paralumpics”, or better: why athletes who competed with assistive technologies, such as the Paralympic long-jumper Markus Rehm, or the American 400 meter runner Blake Leeper, should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
World Athletics current requires athletes who compete with assistive technologies to demonstrate that their assistive technology does not provide them with an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.
But, is this rule, fair?
There is no such upper limit on able-bodied athletes to demonstrate that they do not have an unfair advantage over other able-bodied athletes.
In my TEDx speech I argue that this rule is unfair and discriminatory, and that athletes with assistive technologies should be allowed to compete with “able-bodied” athletes when they meet the qualifying times or qualifying measures for the events.
I would cherish the opportunity to do a TEDx talk in English on this topic!
Contact me at silvia.camporesiATgmail.com to discuss TEDx opportunities.
On February 3rd, 2024, I gave my first TEDx Talk in Forlì, Italy. The theme of the TEDxForlì event (held on February 3rd, 2024 in Forlì, Italy) was “Wishes” (“Desideri”, in Italian) and I talked about “Why the Paralympics/Olympics distinction shouldn’t exist anymore”, or better: why athletes who competed with assistive technologies, such as the Paralympic long-jumper Markus Rehm @the.bladejumper, or the American 400 meter runner Blake Leeper @leepster , should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
World Athletics current requires athletes who compete with assistive technologies to demonstrate that their assistive technology does not provide them with an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.
But, is this rule, fair?
There is no such upper limit on able-bodied athletes to demonstrate that they do not have an unfair advantage over other able-bodied athletes. This upper limits disproportionality restricts athletes with assistive technologies on the basis of the “normal human performance” comparator which is based in the able-bodied athlete. Passé!
Some of you will remember the participation of Oscar Pistorius in the London Olympics in 2012. At that time, Pistorius was allowed to compete on the basis of the 2008 historical award (CAS 2008/A/1480 Pistorius v/ IAAF) of the Court for Arbitration of Sport based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Why haven’t we seen athletes with assistive technologies compete in the Olympics since then?
Because World Athletics changed its rules though and from 2016 onwards implemented the so-called “Markus Rehm’s rule”, which shifts the burden of proof (of demonstrating absence of advantage) from federation to athlete, and which effectively prohibited any athlete with assistive technology from competing with able-bodied athletes when they start running “too fast”. When they are start being perceiving as a “threat”.
In my TEDx speech I argued that this rule is unfair and discriminatory, and that athletes with assistive technologies should be allowed to compete with “able-bodied” athletes when they meet the qualifying times or qualifying measures for the events.
In the future, there will be no humans as we know them: made only of “flesh”. The future of our species is the cyborg body, the synthetic body, the hybrid body. We should embrace these futures. We shouldn’t fear them. They are the only futures we have.
The recording of the TEDx talk is now available here:
This TEDx was in Italian, as such an opportunity arose, however I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to do a TEDx talk or a TED talk in English about assistive technology, disability and inclusion in sport. For inquiries, contact me at silvia.camporesiATgmail.com
Dr Silvia Camporesi 
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