News Release

From the first international games in 1952 at Stoke Mandeville in England to today's high-profile Paralympic Games, members of a growing international community of athletes with disabilities have displayed dogged determination and ambition to jump higher, run faster and swim quicker than most able-bodied people. The visually involving, emotionally powerful Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport exhibition takes an intimate look at Paralympic athletes making history in sport today. The exhibition, which features 35 color and black-and-white images excerpted from a handsome companion book of the same name, opens July 14 in the Jewett Gallery at the Main Library and continues through Oct. 21. (October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.)

Raising the Bar’s text panels and images of athletes at home and at play show the daily struggles and victories of Paralympic hopefuls in training, and a close-up view of international athletes with disabilities competing in events from fencing to boccia, shot put to downhill slalom, cycling to equestrian events, swimming and wheelchair tennis to sitting volleyball and sailing.

Raising the Bar also examines advances in adaptive technology that, among other triumphs, allow double-amputees to match or better the world records set by Olympic athletes 20 years ago. Striving for excellence against physical challenges and social stigma, Paralympic athletes are a new breed of sports heroes who combine their strength and athletic talents with ingenuity and mastery of new technologies to bring a new dimension of depth and dignity to the human effort to succeed and excel.

Through a partnership with the International Paralympic Committee, the exhibition will travel to the Beijing Olympics and to many other venues through 2012. The exhibition is organized by Umbrage Editions and presented by the Library’s Access Services department with support by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Related programs:

Raising the Bar: New Horizons in Disability Sport Opening Program - Athletes will talk about their experiences training for and competing in Paralympic Games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).
July 14, 2–3:30 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
100 Larkin Street (Grove)

Superfest International Disability Film Festival - Screening of independent films made by people with disabilities or made about subjects related to disability communities.
July 26, 2–4 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
100 Larkin Street (Grove)

On the Road to Beijing - Paralympic cyclist and handcycling marathoner Alejandro Albor will talk about his accident, his drive to finish first, the unique bicycles he designs and builds and his experiences training and competing to represent the U.S. in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Sept.15, 2–4 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
100 Larkin Street (Grove)

Screening of Murderball - Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, this 2005 film is about young men who play full-contact wheelchair rugby. The film centers on the rivalry between the U.S. and Canada teams leading up to the 2004 Paralympic Games.
Oct. 13, 2–4 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
100 Larkin Street (Grove)

Related exhibition:

World Games for the Deaf: The Silent Games - An exhibit of text panels and images detail the history of and philosophy behind the World Games for the Deaf, the first international games for athletes with a disability. First held in 1924 as the Silent Games, what are now called the World Games for the Deaf today brings together competitors representing 96 national deaf sports federations.
Outside the Access Services Center, First Floor, Main Library
100 Larkin Street (Grove)

The exhibition and all programs are free and open to the public. For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.

Editor’s note: Images are available for publication.