I started swimming when I was very young. It was a decision my parents made to keep me out of trouble – and it worked. By the time I was 15, I was on my pathway to becoming a Paralympian and had set my sights on the 2012 London Paralympics.
The journey to my first Games
It was fraught. With every successful milestone, there were setbacks. Much of this I put down to extensive, ongoing injuries from overtraining. As a wheelchair user, I rely on my arms heavily – something the 18 hours of swimming, three boxing classes and three gym sessions a week didn't quite account for. Then there was the access to the pool itself. To get to training, I had to go up and down 60 stairs, twice a day, on crutches. This resulted in an overuse injury in my elbows that I struggled with for two years. An all too common reality of high-performance sport.
But, the highs? The chance to represent New Zealand at two Paralympic Games? The experience of winning a Bronze medal in Rio? Meeting Paralympians from around the world? Unforgettable. Life-changing. A privilege!
The Paralympic Village is a unique environment. It's a bubble. For the two weeks I was living there, I felt, for the first time ever, part of a world that had been designed for me. There were ramps everywhere. There were queues for the accessible bathrooms. Being around Paralympians gave me a greater appreciation for the diversity of disability and the lengths people will go to adapt their abilities to our world. I remember, for instance, being sat across from another athlete at dinner. Who was, with better etiquette than most grown adults have, eating his meal using his feet.
It was with these fond memories that, fast-forwarding a few Games, I found myself at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. This time not as an athlete, but as a Media Liaison for the NZ Paralympic team. An experience I was lucky enough to take up thanks to the support of All is for All CEO, Grace Stratton.
Rebecca at the 2024 Paris Games
So, what’s life like working on the 'other side' at the Paralympics?
In a word, mixed.
It was an awesome career opportunity. The chance to be right in the middle of all the action, to be a part of key moments at the Games, reporting on the fantastic achievements of many dedicated athletes – the culmination of years of hard work and mental resilience. It did, however, highlight that there’s still so much progress needed to improve accessibility for disabled workers. Even at a world-famous sporting event for disabled people.
While working at the Games, I didn’t always feel on equal footing with my peers, or treated with the same level of respect. One of the venues we were working at, for instance, only had one lift and stairs to go between the media tribune and the mixed zone. This meant that disabled staff were often unable to access the lift because it was occupied (by non-disabled workers), which led to hearing stories about disabled colleagues missing key moments they could have reported on. When we did reach the venue, it was also common to find accessible tribunes filled with non-disabled media workers, some were not willing to move – further barring our access.
These kinds of barriers existed even though, across the Games, hundreds of media workers were also disabled. Barriers that made it hard to do our jobs. Yet my peers in the media industry didn’t always demonstrate empathy or willingness to change. It's a stark contrast to the narratives we’re used to hearing about the Games themselves, which were described as the ‘most accessible ever’.
This is no fault of the people I met and worked with from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Paris 2024 and Paralympics New Zealand who were all incredibly supportive and accommodating. But it does highlight the difference between the 'real world' and the ‘bubble’ of the Athlete's village.
Bec outside the arc de triomphe which showcased the Paralympic Agitos
Where do we go from here?
Brisbane 2032 is on the horizon and it's close to home. Ahead of the event, the Australian Government has committed to the 'largest-ever investment in Olympic and Paralympic sports', in the hopes of leaving a long-lasting legacy. Every Games is an opportunity to do better than the last. Build better infrastructure, curate better experiences. Be more accessible.
For the organising committee and bodies involved in the planning of 2032 Paralympics, it’s a chance to demonstrate how the whole Paralympics experience – not just the experiences of athletes – can be made accessible. A moment to model what accessible working environments can look like. How they can be made possible. My experience also highlights a broader challenge. It shows us that, when disabled communities are in the spotlight, we're more likely to pay attention. To accommodate. But the reality is that every day, in every kind of industry, the experience of people with disabilities isn't front of mind – even though disability is omnipresent.
In the real world, disabled people are living everyday lives doing everyday jobs. We do this despite existing in a world where disabled people's needs are overlooked and forgotten about. A world that’s not built for our diverse and varying needs. In our race for success, as individuals, as companies, we forget – or worse, ignore – the barriers our communities experience. But, if the Paralympic athlete's village demonstrates one thing, it's that it's possible to accommodate the needs of disabled people – no matter how diverse and varied they may be.
Ultimately, we know, fundamentally, that designing for the needs of disabled people means designing for the needs of everyone. Instead of treating this type of consideration as something that we do when the spotlight is on disabled communities, what if we saw it as fundamental? What if Brisbane 2032 wasn’t just accessible for athletes and attendees but for people working at the Games? In an industry that’s always striving to be better, it’s time we made this a goal.
How can you begin to engage disabled people meaningfully on questions like this?
It starts with the right partner.
At All is for All, our approach is to focus on ensuring disabled people’s active participation. We see their access to basic human needs as a right – not an act of charity. To talk more about how this approach can support you, get in touch.