7th Sept: Superhuman Day

Superhuman Day is celebrated on 7th September. This day is celebrated to honour those amazing people around the world who faced the challenges of disability and all the disgrace and dishonour that was forced on them.

Superhuman Day also celebrates and brings recognition to the hundreds of athletes, artists, musicians, and normal people who have overcome what was once recognized as a disabled limitation and gone on to prove that they can do it.

Superhuman Day was the brainchild of the fantastic people at Channel 4 to highlight the incredible athletes at the Summer Paralympic Games. In 2016 Channel 4 took the place of the official broadcaster for the Paralympics for the second time, and immediately decided to start bringing these unsung heroes and champions of the great human achievements into the limelight. It all started with their advertising campaign “We’re The Superhumans”, featuring 140 people with disabilities who are working to change society’s attitudes towards them.

The Paralympics have been running since 1948, though they weren’t called that then. This athletic event was put together to give World War II Veteran Patients with Spinal Injuries a chance to compete, and were called the “1948 International Wheelchair games”. But in 1960 the Paralympics were officially established, and no longer simply open to WWII vets. In that event 400 athletes from 23 countries competed, which quickly grew to 1600 athletes from 40 countries in 1976.