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Category Archives: English
Learning Center: Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann
By Matthias
Dear visitor,
Welcome to the Night of the Notables! My chosen eminent person is Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann.
I suggest watching the videos in numerical order as things will make more sense, but you do not have to.
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Please feel free to ask a question or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
1. Here is my video about his lifetime:
2. Here is my video about some of his major accomplishments:
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3. Here is my video about my interview with Elisabeth Walker-Young:
4. Here is my video about his Noteworthiness
Thank you for taking the time to view my learning center, please feel free to ask a question or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
A very informative documentary that I came across while doing my research is called “Rising Phoenix” and I highly recommend watching it. You can find “Rising Phoenix” on Netflix or clicking on this hyperlink: https://www.risingphoenix.education/#landing
Sources:
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Dr. Guttmann and the Paralympic movement. (n.d.). The History Press | The destination for history. https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/dr-guttmann-and-the-paralympic-movement/
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The history of the Paralympic Games. (2020, September 10). Paris 2024. https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-history-of-the-paralympic-games/
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Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann. (n.d.). National Paralympic Heritage Trust. https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/professor-sir-ludwig-Guttmann
PowerPoint Bing Images
Practice Interview Reflection
Eminent Person Practice Interview Reflection
I think that doing the practice interview was important because it helped me to realize what parts of my interview skills I needed to work on. I was also able to learn from other’s interviews and improve my own interview skills. For example, one of my classmates had really good questions, spoke in a really clear and calm voice, and all the different parts in her interview flowed together and made the interview go smoothly without pauses. I could work on my skills by building off of some of the skills that they used in their interview. When I did my interview, the conversation didn’t flow very well, and I didn’t have good transitions from one of my questions to the next. This made my interview sound very jerky because the first questions that I asked had simple answers and then the next question I asked had a very detailed answer. If I were to do my interview again, I would make sure that I had a good transition between my closed questions and my open questions so that it would be like a piece of music where it grows in intensity instead of going from a piano to a fortissimo in one quarter note. If I tried to go from a piano to a fortissimo in one quarter note it would be super soft and then would be so strong it wouldn’t fit together. That is why I need to make sure that the transitions between questions in my interview make sense and don’t jump around otherwise it will sound like I don’t know what I am doing.
Another thing that I need to work on is speaking in a clear and calm voice because I ended up speeding up my words and then it is really hard to have a proper conversation. I also start talking with more intensity in my voice, so it makes it seem that I am stressed or rushed and then it makes me seem unprofessional.
To conclude, I need to work on making my questions fit together and speaking in a clear and calm voice so that I am easy to understand, and my interviewee doesn’t have trouble understanding any of my questions.
Introduction To My Eminent Person
Sir Ludwig Guttmann
“It occurred to me that it would have been a serious omission not to have included sport in the rehabilitation of handicapped people. That was probably one of the best thoughts I have ever had as a medical man.”
Personal Connections
I chose to research Sir Ludwig Guttmann for my first Eminent Person Project. What drew me to Sir Ludwig Guttmann is the strong connection I have to Para-rowing. I have met and been inspired by several Para-rowers. If the Paralympics didn’t exist, then there wouldn’t be a place for para-athletes to compete at the same level as the Olympic Games. If not for Sir Ludwig’s work, there wouldn’t be the Paralympic sports that has changed the way we look at people with disabilities.
Sir Guttman came to England just before the start of the second World War with little knowledge of the English language. It was difficult for him to translate and share his knowledge with his peers and superiors. I could relate to this in a way; I have also had challenges in sharing my knowledge because I struggle to take what I am thinking about and what I understand and put it on paper or in writing.
I also share with him the view that sport is very important and helps to bring people together. I believe that there should be more opportunities for everyone to participate in sport, especially those with disabilities – whether mental or physical disabilities.
A quality that Sir Ludwig and I share is that we have good attention to detail. He would check in on all his patients during the night to make sure that they were rolled to keep them safe from deadly pressure sores. When I referee soccer, I make sure that all the players have shin pads on, their socks are covering their shin pads, and that they don’t have metal studs on their cleats.
What has been missing for me in other classes is having a team to work with, people who I can connect with and understand that there are different ways of learning and solving a problem. Dr. Guttman was alone in his view at first and then found – or maybe better said built – a community of like-minded people to accomplish goals together.
One thing that is different and I have to work to understand about Dr. Guttman is his Jewish faith, his experience in Nazi Germany and how he always felt like a refugee in England. At the end of his life, he was quoted as saying that he never stopped feeling like a refugee and never truly felt English; British yes, but never totally accepted in England. I’ve been lucky to grow up in Canada and never experience anything like that.
Eminence
He made new principles that changed how patients were treated and the quality of care that they received; in turn, their life expectancy improved, and he used the power of sport to improve their mental and physical well-being. So, Dr. Guttman founded the Stoke-Mandeville Games. After injury Guttmann focused an individual’s mind on what they can do rather than regretting what they can no longer do. Through sport Guttmann gave that person back the will to live a full life with pride and self-respect.
I think that he will always be remembered because of the Paralympics, even though most people, (including me until I started the Eminent Person Project), don’t know who he is and what he did. But we all know about the Paralympics and that means that Sir Ludwig Guttmann’s legacy will continue to positively impact our world.
Some of the challenges that Sir Ludwig experienced during his rise to eminence include: having to escape from the Nazis and start a new life for his family in England; taking care of all patients, regardless of religion or nationality because he saw the person first; he wasn’t supposed to be because he was Jewish and German, so he was only supposed to treat Jewish patients.
Sir Ludwig Guttmann is worth researching because I enjoy watching the Olympics and the Paralympics, but I didn’t know who created the Paralympics. I now see how important it is for people with disabilities to be able to live side by side with able-bodied people and do anything an able-bodied person could do.
I chose Sir Ludwig Guttmann because I have seen firsthand what athletes with a disability can do and how exciting it is to watch them compete. He was the first person to help people with disabilities participate in sport as a means to rejoin society after devasting injuries. His small start with the Stoke-Mandeville Games has become an international movement, and now the Paralympic Summer and Winter Games are held every four years.
Sources:
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/dr-guttmann-and-the-paralympic-movement/
https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-history-of-the-paralympic-games/
https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/professor-sir-ludwig-guttmann
Some good resources:
About the history of the Paralympics and Sir Ludwig Guttmann’s life and work.
Another good resource about Para-athletes is the Netflix Movie “Rising Phoenix” which is all about Para-athletes and their trip to the Paralympics. It would be good to watch as the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games are coming up soon.