[PDFlist] Commonwealth Games have better integrated para-sports, but society needs to catch up

[Soloveni Vitoso]

http://theconversation.com/commonwealth-games-have-better-integrated-para-sports-but-society-needs-to-catch-up-94491

The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 <https://www.gc2018.com/> is the
largest major sporting event to integrate para-sports. But the
inclusiveness of the Games only highlights the challenges of the everyday
lived experience of people with disabilities in Australia and the other 72
countries competing.

Australia’s best known para-sport athlete, Kurt Fearnley, identified
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-03/commonwealth-games-fearnley-has-been-waiting-six-years-for/9610748>
the
introduction of the wheelchair marathon (for T54 classified atheletes
<https://www.paralympic.org/athletics/classification>) as the perfect
swansong to his illustrious career.

Fearnley and the more than 300 other para-athletes are well catered for
<https://twitter.com/kurtfearnley/status/982922557518049280>within the
sport arenas, Commonwealth Games village, transport arrangements and
official functions.


Right on the doorstep of the Games, for example, Queensland Rail’s newly
acquired A$4.4 billion trains
<https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/new-queensland-trains-denied-human-rights-exemption-20180302-p4z2iz.html>
have
inaccessible bathrooms and walkways. Not to mention a lack of staff support
when people with access needs are boarding.

This is just one example of the institutionalised discrimination in the
everyday lives of people with disability in Australia and around the world.

As outlined by the Commonwealth Games program
<https://www.gc2018.com/article/gc2018-host-largest-para-sport-program>,
these Games have shown an outstanding commitment to the expansion of
para-sports. The 38 medal events being contested represent a 73% increase
from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014.

Along with this increase in events is a 45% rise
<https://www.gc2018.com/article/gc2018-host-largest-para-sport-program> in
the number of athletes competing across seven sports, including swimming,
javelin, cycling (track), lawn bowls, table tennis, triathlon and
power-lifting.

The overall responsibility for accessibility and inclusion of the athlete
experience has been integrated as part of the broader sustainability program
<https://www.gc2018.com/about/sustainability> of the games.

The sustainability program clearly states the importance of accessibility
for the athletes in a sporting context and the Commonwealth Games Village.
But it also emphasises <https://www.gc2018.com/about/sustainability> the
importance of accessibility for all those attending any of the events:


------------------------------

In February 2017 the GC2018, Gold Coast Tourism and Gold Coast City Council
hosted a community forum
<https://www.qtic.com.au/events/accessible-tourism-forum-2017%20thanks%22%22>
that
sought to encourage the tourism industry to leverage the Games well beyond
the closing ceremony.

That forum can be thought of as an extension of the International
Paralympic Committee’s objective of an “accessibility legacy
<https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-43522-4_3>” for host
cities and destinations.

Building on the integrated inclusiveness of the previous five integrated
Commonwealth Games
<https://theconversation.com/integration-not-segregation-para-sports-at-the-glasgow-games-29589>
the
Gold Coast has raised awareness for providing accessibility across
disability dimensions for the event, such as mobility, hearing and vision,
but potentially raised the expectations of an ongoing legacy in the
community
<https://www.destinationgoldcoast.com/travel-information/accessible-gold-coast>
 and those visiting the Gold Coast requiring accessible accommodation
<https://www.destinationgoldcoast.com/commonwealth-games/accommodation/accessible>
.

Simultaneously, the Queensland government launched a guide, Inclusive
Tourism: Making Your Business more Accessible and Inclusive
<https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/inclusive-tourism/resource/6edc79fe-36ff-4cb1-a8e2-6ca2658d0be7>,
for business.

This guide was later supported with research, Accessible Tourism in
Victoria and Queensland
<https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/258/Executive%20Summary_Accessible_tourism_Vic_Qld_FINAL_Jan%202018.pdf.aspx?Embed=Y>,
carried out in conjunction with Tourism Research Australia, which valued
the market at A$8 billion annually.

However, even before the opening ceremony the disregard for people with
disabilities in other areas of life had tarnished the tremendous efforts by
the organising committee and the Queensland government.

To achieve an accessibility legacy for all beyond the life of the event
requires all levels of government and the private sector to be involved, in
areas such as urban planning, transport and development, to ensure there
are continuous paths of travel for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities have the same right, and the same interest as
others, in being able to access buildings, buses and bars in order to
participate
fully in all aspects of life
<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/dda-guide-what-areas-life-does-dda-cover>.
Disregard for people with disabilities

Disability advocacy groups, individuals with disabilities and law firms
were outraged that Queensland Rail’s new trains
<https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/this-woman-could-force-major-changes-to-queensland-s-controversial-ngr-trains-20180311-p4z3ve.html>
did
not meet the Disability Discrimination Act’s standards
<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/guides/brief-guide-disability-discrimination-act>,
despite six years of planning.

Rectifying this has been estimated to cost A$150 million
<https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/taxpayers-face-150-million-repair-bill-for-trains-with-design-flaws-20180302-p4z2mi.html?_ga=2.198169007.127207264.1522981574-1576908396.1522981574>,
which Queensland Rail has said would come from its contingency budget.

The State of Queensland and Queensland Rail had made a joint application
for a temporary exemption
<https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/new-queensland-trains-denied-human-rights-exemption-20180302-p4z2iz.html?_ga=2.2413616.127207264.1522981574-1576908396.1522981574>
from
the Australian Human Rights Commission
<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/legal/projects/train-exemption> from
the Disability Discrimination Act and the Disability Standards for
Accessible Public Transport to carry out its works. The Australian Human
Rights Commission refused the exemption request
<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/290318%20Summary%20of%20Decision%20QR%20%20TMR.pdf>
.

Leaving aside the technicalities of the accessibility of trains, this case
signifies that a major state government, its rail provider, as well as
previous governments of both major party political persuasions, did not
value the citizenship rights of people with disabilities.

Transport is the lifeblood of social participation, whether that is going
to a major sport event, getting an education, or keeping a job.

That the trains did not meet the Disability Discrimination Act (in place
since 1993), and the specifics of the Disability Standards for Accessible
Public Transport <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2005B01059> (in
place since 2002), was aptly described as Twitter lit up as a “debacle
<https://twitter.com/InclusionMoves/status/979136593339412480>”.

Para-athletes whose elite athletic experiences can be some of the most
inclusive on offer are still subject to all forms of discrimination that
the community of people with disabilities regularly face beyond the major
sport event experience.

This was nowhere more evident than the experiences of wheelchair racer
Nikki Emerson on an Emirates flight to the Games
<http://www.bbc.com/sport/commonwealth-games/43628396>. Emerson was made to
wait an hour to access the toilets as a member of the cabin staff
challenged her right of “climbing on the floor” to get to the toilet as it
“upset other passengers”.

These examples suggest that people with disability live in a world where
some experiences and activities (like a major sport event) are valued as
they signify to the world that the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia are
fair and equitable.

Yet the everyday lived experiences suggest an ongoing struggle for fair
treatment in all areas of citizenship.

It’s so frustrating when we see the political will to deliver an inclusive
major sport event when the eyes of the world are watching.
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