Singapore has won its first gold medal in the Beijing Paralympics! Yip Pin Xiu has won the first gold medal in the 50 metre backstroke finals. She also clinched Singapore’s first silver at the Paralympics, in the women’s 50-metre freestyle finals.

Laurentia Tan has won 2 bronze medal in the equestrian events. This is a girl who had been diagnosed as “spastic” and refused educational opportunities here in Singapore. Thankfully for her parents who never gave up, she blossomed in UK and now, even “has a career, drives a car”. Stories like these always inspire me and give me hope. But I digress, again.

I can’t begin to describe how proud I feel of these wins. Contrast this lump in the throat reaction to the distinctively different reaction to another win.

Setting the pride and happiness for this win aside, I feel positively outraged that Yip is getting only S$100,000 for her gold medal under the Athletes Achievement Award (AAA) set up by the Singapore National Paralympic Council.I am outraged at the lack of publicity, hype and importance placed in the Paralympics. Laurentia is getting S$25,000.00 for her bronze wins.

Yes I am furious at this sublimate message that our disabled athletes are somehow and somewhat less worthy than the able-bodied ones.

A Paralympic gold medal prize = S$100,000.00

A Olympics gold medal prize = S$1,000,000.00

Even the trio who brought back the silver Olympic medal pocketed S$750,000.00.

Even if you might argue that both prize categories can never be equal, do you not think the disparity is simply too wide? If we were to be a truly inclusive society, surely this one glaring issue should be disserted for change?

Andrew Loh of TOC says

Thus, if the private sector had not put up the rewards, Yip and her winning colleagues would have been rewarded with … nothing? Pressed by NMP Eunice Olsen on whether the Government would consider “topping up the reward”, Mr Teo said that, in future, “cash rewards would still be solicited from the private sector and community.” It would thus seem that the Government would not be contributing monetary rewards to these Paralympics athletes. It makes one wonder why.