Nearly a quarter of the UK population (24%) have a disability. However, neither the Summer or Winter Paralympic Games recieve equal television coverage in the United Kingdom as the Olympic Games.

In the UK, the Paralympics have been covered for many years by Channel 4, a subscription-based streaming service. There is an option to access Channel 4 for free but you'll be interrupted by adverts every few minutes and you'll get to see very little of the sports action. Compare this to the Olympics - where the action is available in large chunks via BBC channels or the online streaming service BBC iPlayer, both of which are free to UK residents with a TV License and have very few adverts. 

It is extremely pathetic and unfair to to try to make Paralympic fans pay extra for content that they wouldn't have to pay for if they were watching able-bodied athletes. Many disabled people find excessive amounts of adverts difficult to process but can't afford to pay a subscription to watch without them. Disabled people need to spend more money to take care of their health and are likely to be on benefits. A 2020-2021 study found that disabled UK residents have 44% less disposable income than their non-disabled counterparts, a situation that has only been made worse by the recent cost-of-living crisis.  

The only difference between the Olympic and Paralympic Games is that one has able-bodied athletes and the other has disabled athletes. Yet, in the UK the two are treated completely differently. Having the able-bodied Olympics available almost for free while Paralympic viewers have to sit through tons of adverts and still see almost nothing of their favourite sports is a slap in the face that the disabled population of this country do not need. It is purely disrespectful.

The choice of Paralympic broadcasters are decided by each games' Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It may be too late to change the coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics but we cannot let another Paralympics be covered in the UK at such a subpar standard than the Olympics.