By Andrew Pulrang — 2021
Disability activism is empowering. Keys to getting started are staying open, sharing the stage, working collaboratively, listening and learning, and being willing to ask for help to make it less scary.
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CLEAR ALL
Osaka’s mental health challenges are nothing new in her isolating sport. What is new is the acceptance she’ll face—and the paths back—if she takes a prolonged break.
In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow. I learned a couple of key lessons.
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Through the size of her platform, however, and her decision to choose well-being over pursuit of a Grand Slam title, Osaka offers the promise of bringing mental health awareness—both inside and outside of sports—to an entirely new level.
Ouch – that pain is more than just physical.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, has acknowledged that after the 2012 games, his longtime depression was so overwhelming he thought about killing himself.
Social sports leagues, generally cater to people like Jacquelyn Keenan, who sign up on their own or with a small group of friends. Most of the leagues are gender-neutral. “You get to meet so many people,” she said. “It’s not super-competitive, and kickball is a very accessible sport.”
Experts I spoke with for this story pointed to a couple of reasons professional athletes are particularly susceptible to mental health issues.
Research shows exercise can ease things like panic attacks or mood and sleep disorders, and a recent study in the journal Lancet Psychiatry found that popular team sports may have a slight edge over the other forms of physical activity.
By withdrawing from competition citing concerns over her mental health, Biles showed that resisting expectations can be more powerful than persisting through them.
The opposition is cast as one between cis-girl athletes on the one hand and a vast liberal conspiracy on the other.