The 2016 Paralympics will be held Sept. 7-18 in Rio, Brazil, and to celebrate it, Britain’s Channel 4 created a wonderful three-minute trailer called ‘We’re the Superhumans’ that combines 60 scenes of more than 150 disabled people doing remarkable feats, both athletic and mundane. It’s all performed to a cover of Sammy Davis’ ‘Yes I Can,’ which is performed by a group of disabled musicians called The Superhuman Band.
“’We’re the Superhumans’ is an unbridled celebration of ability, by both elite Paralympians and everyday people,” said Channel 4’s chief marketing and communications officer, Dan Brooke. “In 2012 we saw athletes like never before, but now we see that Down’s Syndrome graduates and wheelchair users in the workplace are just as Superhuman as blind sprinters and amputee weightlifters.”
The spot features dancers and musicians as well as archers, wheelchair racers, soccer players, swimmers, fencers, a rock climber with one arm, a rally driver who steers cars with his feet, and children with prosthetic limbs playing soccer and bouncing on a trampoline. Scenes of sporting feats and stunts are juxtaposed with people doing everyday tasks. One woman writes notes during a phone call while gripping her pen with her toes while another changes her child’s diaper with her feet. There’s even a woman using her feet to fly an airplane!
The trailer features a mix of people from around the world. There are 78 video stars from Britain, where Channel 4 is based, and others from Australia, America, Brazil, Canada, Haiti, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Yes I Can! Disabled People, It Turns Out, Can Do Almost Anything.
According to the Rio Paralympics site, some 4,350 athletes from more than 160 countries will travel to Rio to compete in 526 medal events in over 20 different sports. Canoe and triathlon will be included in the Games for the first time.
Rio is making a special effort to improve accessibility standards throughout the city. The goal is that all public transportation systems in the city of Rio de Janeiro will offer full accessibility, and that the accessibility standards of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will be enforced in all new hotels built in the city.
