Paris — Chuck Aoki sits comfortably in a typical airplane seat with his hands raised and an ecstatic expression on his face, gazing intently at the TV in front of him, where he can see himself staring back at him. He captioned the Instagram Reel, “Staring at myself for 8 hours straight on my way to Paris. Let’s go.”
Thanks to his skill at jumping on social media trends like “low-dogging” flights, in which passengers sit in their seats for hours and simply stare ahead, Aoki has added the title of “influencer” to his title as a wheelchair rugby player. Aoki is the only active Summer Paralympian on Team USA, a content production team of 10 personalities selected by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to drive viewership over the 10 days of the Paralympics.
“(My goal) is to increase understanding and awareness of Paralympic sports and educate people on what it’s all about,” said Aoki, a three-time medalist who has scored nearly half of the team’s tries so far. “I think the reality is there’s a serious lack of understanding across the board and it’s not covered much in the mainstream media, but the great thing about social media is that you can get the message directly to people.”
Some of them are star athletes, like Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall, whose husband is competing in Paris, and three-time para snowboard medalist Mike Schultz, but others come from the entertainment world. Their goal, and that of each team’s social media users, is not just to entertain fans but to expose the next generation of people with disabilities to the excitement and opportunities available in adaptive sports.
“We can give opinions and we can educate, but we want people to ask questions and be curious,” said Dani Arabic, a two-time Paralympic athlete who competed in both the Summer and Winter Paralympics. “Curiosity leads to interest, interest leads to viewership, and hopefully it starts a snowball effect.”
Team USA has decided to focus all of its efforts on content for the Paris Paralympics, and for creators, there is unlimited freedom in the content they can create using the momentum these media outlets generate.
“We saw some great things at the Olympics – influencers, art, music, fashion – and I think the Paralympics are just trying to reflect that,” Arabic said.
Arabic was one of five Paralympians selected to take part in the project, and she said what she likes most about it is the diversity of personalities among the creators. The content ranges from short humorous TikToks to longer Instagram Reels that dissect the classifications of athletes, and as a group, the creators were able to cover every angle, she said.
While each creator has a specific objective for the content they want to produce, they all share a common goal: to raise visibility for disability.
Influencers have used social media to introduce people to professions, lifestyles and activities that they may not have known about or thought were possible.
Craig Conover, star of the Bravo reality show “Southern Charm,” was one of five influencers selected to take part in the project.
“I think the Paralympics are getting more exposure, but obviously they haven’t had the same airtime as the Olympics in the past,” Conover said. “With the power of social media and everything that goes along with that, it’s going to be fantastic.”
Conover will be joined by influencers Erin Azar, Meneses Garriga, Matt James and Jesse Stracham.
With adaptive sports, Paralympic athletes, beyond the group of content creators, are reaching out specifically to young people with disabilities, opening up a world of new opportunities for them.
“For me, a big part of it is developing the next generation of Paralympians,” said three-time Paralympic volleyball medalist Kaleo Kanahele-McRae. “I think we had young girls in our DMs, they watched the videos, they came to try out the sport, and now they’re in our pipeline.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s thrilling,” exclaimed teammate Bethany Zummo, standing next to her.
Aoki says he has received many direct messages from people saying that his account has empowered people with physical disabilities who never thought they could play sports.
“Every day I meet people who don’t realize they have the ability to do parasports, and I hate it when people like that,” Aoki says. “If my social media helps even one person realize they have the ability to be active and that they have friends, then my job will have been accomplished.”
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Ana Escamilla is a student in the Undergraduate Certificate Program at the Carmical Sports Media Institute at the University of Georgia.
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AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games