September 23, 2024 - 10:21
Channel 4's "We're The Superhumans" ad for the 2016 Rio Paralympics makes use of the Wonderous, Sentimental, and Exotic rhetorics of disability by depicting individuals doing a range of things from competitive sports to playing instruments, to brushing their teeth- playing off the assumption that none of these are possible for people with disabilities. The ad captializes on a sense of otherness, asking the, presumably able-bodied, viewer to be amazed by the "incredible" feats depicted in the advertisment. Acts like playing with a child are lumped in with competative swimming and other strenuous activites as though both are equally impossible. Even the title: "We're The Superhumans" makes use of the supercrip rhetoric, supporting the narrative that disability is something to be overcome.