VIDEO: Wheelchair Tennis Star Dana Mathewson Discusses Importance Of Paralympic Coverage

United States Wheelchair Tennis player Dana Mathewson is no stranger to understanding the necessity of publicizing the Paralympics and her sport. In fact, she is keenly aware of how critical it is that the United States catch up to the progress other nations have made in this regard.

“I think it can only help leaps and bounds. I know that other countries have kind of been a little bit ahead of us in this regard,” Mathewson said. “I was lucky enough to train and live in England for the past two years, and I got to see how different their culture kind of looks at anyone with a disability or especially paralympic athletes. I was talking to some of the other tennis players I trained with, and they said that really changed after they hosted a games and after there was a lot of television coverage and stuff. And just because there was a huge increase in awareness about paralympic sport, and I think that’s a big thing that America’s missing, we have such a big country, so it makes sense that most people aren’t exposed to people with disabilities in general, much less people with disabilities who are also athletes.”

The coverage of the Paralympics will have an indelible impact on the popularity of these games, as well as foster an understanding of how those with disabilities can compete at the highest level of sport.

“So, for us to be on primetime, on TV, where any random Joe Schmo can turn on his TV and see people competing at a really high level, that’s huge,” Mathewson added. “And, that’s the way that you know one person watches that, goes and tells his friends about it, they tune in the next night, and before you know it a lot of people know about what the Paralympics is. And, that’s really what we need and that’s really the start of positive change so I’m really excited to see what happens.”