The Paralympic Games are the main event to talk about sport, media and disability. Byachieving sports performance, it is possible to redefine some key elements that characterizethe controversial relationship between media and disability: from the stereotyped vision ofstigma, to the social visibility of the body "out of frame". Today the media-speeches tell storiesof Paralympic athletes that go beyond the stereotype of the "Supercrip", offering on thecultural market the exploits of new heroes: athletes, super-human, testimonials of bodies thatcan be improved and upgraded thanks to new technologies. Disabled athletes are thus transformedinto new celebrities, new "pop icons" of the cultural and advertising industry. In thiscontext, the social imagery of disability is changing it frees itself from the historical mediamarginalization, to become an object and a consumer product which, through the myth ofParalympic sport, opens up to social and cultural changes.
Keywords: Sports; Paralympics; disability; social imaginary; cultural consumption; popidols.