British Paralympic Association admits it has just one disabled director

Shocked activists have criticised the British Paralympic Association (BPA) after its “astonishing” and “appalling” admission that only one of its nine directors is disabled.

The organisation – which prepares and manages the British team at every Paralympic Games, and is responsible for promoting the Paralympic movement in Britain – made the admission after announcing the appointment of three new non-executive directors to its board.

None of the three new directors – civil servant Emma Boggis, who manages the Cabinet Office’s Olympic and Paralympic legacy unit; Norman Brodie, who headed Cadbury’s London 2012 marketing operation; and Greg Nugent, who was director of brand, marketing and culture at the London 2012 organising committee LOCOG – are disabled people.

Jaspal Dhani, a disability consultant and former chief executive of the UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC), said the lack of disabled directors on the BPA board was “appalling” and “astonishing”.

He said: “They may talk of legacy [from London 2012] but how is that legacy reflected in their own internal structure?

“When you look at how far we have come in ensuring that disabled people’s voices are heard in all areas of life it shows how backward-looking BPA’s philosophy is.

“They are an organisation for disabled people and not of disabled people, which is highly disappointing when it is disabled people who have made BPA what it is.

“What they are saying here is that they do not consider disabled people to have the right kind of skills, professionalism and background that can help them to develop as an organisation.”

Dhani, who plays and coaches with the London Raiders wheelchair basketball club in east London, added: “It is very sad and disappointing that BPA have not given due regard to looking at the talents and skills of disabled people and particularly disabled athletes as suitable candidates for joining their board.

“When you look at the success of the Paralympics and Olympics, it was disabled athletes who made the games what they were.”

Julie Newman, UKDPC’s acting chair, said BPA was guilty of a “missed opportunity to lead by example”.

She said: “It is very disappointing when there has been so much dialogue and discussion around the legacy [from London 2012].

“It is very undermining of the level of expertise that the elite athletes have built up. For disabled sportspeople the career progression [within disability sports administration] is very, very limited. The opportunities are minimal.”

Newman, a keen sailor, said UKDPC had tried to promote change in disability sport by talking to governing bodies, but added: “It is very difficult when you have a governing body that doesn’t allow the benefit of lived experience to influence decisions.”

BPA said the new appointments followed a “thorough recruitment process”, and that the trio would provide “leadership”, “strategic direction” and “governance oversight”, focusing on “vision, core values and objectives”.

Asked whether it was acceptable to have just one disabled director, a BPA spokeswoman said: “The BPA is a sports organisation, and the appointment of our board members is made based on their knowledge, experience and passion for Paralympic sport.”

When asked if this suggested that BPA believed there were no retired Paralympians with the requisite “knowledge, experience and passion for Paralympic sport”, she declined to comment further.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.

The Cabinet Office’s Olympic and Paralympic legacy unit also declined to comment, saying: “It is not for the government to tell anyone about the composition of its board.”

Tim Reddish, BPA’s chair and its only disabled director, said earlier that he was confident the appointments would help the organisation “make further progress on our ambition to make the UK the leading nation in Paralympic sport and, through this, to inspire a better world for disabled people”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Paralympic Medal-winner says DLA ‘lets us be the best we can be’

A second medal-winning athlete has spoken of how disability living allowance (DLA) has allowed him and other British Paralympians to “be the best we can be”.

David Smith was speaking after losing the BC1 boccia final to an “awesome” performance by the gold medal-winner Pattaya Tadtong, from Thailand. Tadtong won the final 7-0 in front of a packed crowd at the ExCeL centre yesterday (Saturday).

Smith, who won a boccia team gold in Beijing four years ago, said: “He’s got a lot more power than me and a lot of control and I think that was quite evident on the [score] board. I gave it my best shot but he was too classy for me on the day. No regrets, I’m happy.”

Asked by Disability News Service (DNS) about the importance of the support provided by DLA to medal-winning Paralympians such as himself, he said: “I think it is very important that we have an opportunity to be the best we can be, to enable us to participate in society.

“By giving us the opportunity to be the best we can, we can then contribute. We don’t want everything to be made easy. We just want to be able to have equal footing, so we can get on with our lives and help society.”

Smith is studying aerospace engineering at Swansea University and hopes to work as an engineer, but because he now has a car he can drive himself, obtained through the Motability car scheme, and paid for with his DLA mobility component, his “options are open”.

He said: “[My] options are open now because I have a new car that I can drive myself and it is awesome, with hand controls and all that.”

When Motability rolled out its three millionth car last October, Smith, a powerchair-user, was in Westminster Hall to receive the keys from the Queen.

His new car had been adapted so he could drive himself for the first time, rather than having to be a passenger in the back, as he had been with his previous car.

Research for the WeareSparticus campaign in June, published in Reversing from Recovery: The Hidden Costs of Welfare Reform, found a likely 17 per cent reduction in the number of disabled people eligible for a Motability vehicle as a result of coalition cuts.

But despite stressing the importance of DLA, Smith declined to express concern for the estimated 20 per cent of DLA claimants set to lose the right to support over the next few years as a result of the cuts.

Asked if he was concerned about the 20 per cent cuts to DLA spending, he said: “It depends. There obviously can be improvements in terms of efficiencies, in terms of people that do not necessarily need the money.

“If they do it well and they analyse it properly and they are fair to everybody, then everybody has got to tighten their belts a little bit.

“Personally, I am philosophical. If it happens, it happens, but as long as it is fair to everybody then it should be OK.”

When asked how he would feel if some of Britain’s Paralympians were to lose their DLA over the next few years, he said: “It’s tough. It’s a tough way to go. It’s difficult. People are going to have their own opinions on what they need and what they don’t.”

But he added: “As long as it’s fair to everybody, as long as people aren’t cut out unfairly, and as long as it’s not just done in some office somewhere and [in an] ‘off the table’ kind of thing, then I think people will have to accept it.”

When DNS said that 500,000 disabled people could lose their right to DLA over the next few years [by 2015-16], he said: “It is a lot. Then there is a lot of other people that are losing benefits, not just disabled people but the whole system, so I think if we can make it fair and it is equal for everybody, then…”

He had earlier spoken of his hopes that the Paralympics were leading to people becoming “more positive about disability in terms of what we can achieve in life, how we can [have] a positive impact on society, not just [believe we are] a burden on someone else’s ankles”.

He added: “I think that is important and long may that attitude continue. Everybody can contribute.

“Some people need a little bit of a helping hand but if you give them that opportunity, be it a blade or a wheelchair to move around then they can be citizens of society and we can all move Britain forward.”

When Smith began playing boccia, there was little financial support for the sport in Britain, and he even had to fund taking part in his first major championships, which cost him £2,500, including the expense of paying for personal assistants.

But after the boccia team’s success in Beijing four years ago, the sport received “a lot of funding” from UK Sport. They now have two physiotherapists who are “soft-tissue experts”, and a sports psychologist, as well as a statistician, who can provide crucial tactical advice about how to take on different opponents.

He said the London 2012 games themselves had been “amazing”. “The whole Paralympics has been perfect, so much better than Beijing. The [athletes’] village has been wonderful.”

And he said he hoped the London 2012 Paralympics would encourage many more disabled people to take up boccia. “It is a great game for a lot of disabled people who do not get the chance to compete in sport. Boccia is one of those games that gives you the opportunity.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

London 2012: Deaf star’s anger over latest LOCOG access failure

A leading Deaf dance and film performer has launched an angry attack on the organisers of the Paralympic Games over their failure to provide any facilities for Deaf spectators at a key London 2012 venue.

David Bower, previously best-known for his role in the hit film Four Weddings and a Funeral but now just as well-known as artistic director of the “signdance” music theatre company Signdance Collective, was attending the equestrian dressage event at Greenwich Park yesterday with the company’s disabled dance director Isolte Avila.

But Bower, who is Deaf, described how he was chased and shouted at aggressively by a London 2012 “games-maker” (volunteer) “because they spoke to me and I didn’t hear them and they took great offence”.

He said: “So then they chased me and that of course made a scene. It looked like I had done something wrong and people around me were wondering what was happening.

“It happened throughout the entire day. In the end I felt it was safer just to remain in one seat, as it was embarrassing.”

He said he was even “worried that they would attack me and I would get hurt”.

Bower said he would not attend any more London 2012 Paralympic events because there were “so many dos and don’ts I just cannot understand what they are saying”.

He said the London 2012 organising committee LOCOG had apparently failed to provide any volunteers who had basic British Sign Language (BSL) knowledge.

Bower was also unhappy that there were no subtitles or BSL interpreting on the films that were shown to spectators during the afternoon on the screens in Greenwich Park.

The lack of captions meant Deaf people were excluded from the information being given about the riders and events, but also instructions about the need to keep quiet while the riders were competing, to avoid startling the horses.

It is the latest in a series of access failures by LOCOG across its London venues, including a failure to plan for wheelchair-using parents at its ExCeL multi-event venue, forcing wheelchair-users to use an expensive telephone helpline to book London 2012 tickets, failing to provide Braille and easy-read information on its Olympic Park information points, and failing to provide basic facilities or vital information for powerchair-users.

Bower said it was clear that games-makers had not been trained in Deaf awareness.

He said: “They were constantly telling people what they cannot do as you are trying to get to your seat to watch the event, and there is someone running up behind you saying, ‘excuse me, excuse me, you can’t go that way,’ and they got upset.”

He added: “I was interested in the background of the athletes, and it was impossible to have any information unless Isolte was interpreting, but we were both [trying to relax] at the Paralympics. We were both exhausted and looking forward to a fun day.”

Avila, who was with Bower, told Disability News Service that the lack of communication support for Deaf people had been “amazing”, while one games-maker had been “really aggressive” with Bower when he failed to hear her instructions.

She said: “I feel that Deaf people have been excluded from the Paralympics. It is a shame to work so hard for the London 2012 festival and come to the only Paralympic event we could come to and there is no access for our artists.

“None of the films they showed had subtitles. There was nothing at all for Deaf people.”

Even more embarrassingly for LOCOG, Signdance Collective has been performing this summer as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Bower and Avila were at the dressage event as guests of Ju Gosling, director of the Together! 2012 festival, which is taking place in the Olympic Stadium borough of Newham, and Julie Newman, acting chair of the UK Disabled People’s Council, which is organising Together! 2012.

Newman said she was “embarrassed and angered” by LOCOG’s accessibility failures.

She said: “Signdance Collective have generously given of their time and energy to contribute their work to our festival.

“It has been a very long and full season for them and this would have been the one opportunity to be part of the games experience. Instead, the ignorance and ineptitude of other people intruded on our day in a way which was inexcusable.

“We have been talking to the organisers about full and proper access for years, building on the tremendous consultations that were originally done with the Olympic Delivery Authority [which was responsible for building and developing London 2012 venues] by a full range of individuals and organisations within our sector.

“I am very disappointed that consistently LOCOG fail to implement basic accessibility standards, and refuse to be challenged on this.

“They continue to betray any understanding that disabled people are part of the rich mix of our society, and this is at a time when international attention is focused on us. There is no justification.”

A LOCOG spokeswoman said: “We continue to exceed standard practice, providing for a wide variety of accessibility requirements.

“We have worked with the Royal Association for the Deaf [the Royal Association for Deaf People] and also held an access summit last year for the deaf community – they advised us on what they wanted us to focus on.

“For example, our Ticketcare scheme ensures that spectators who are deaf or have a hearing impairment can bring in their signer for no additional cost.

“Deaf spectators could also request a seat with a direct view of the screens in venues. We have also ensured that we have a lot of visual content on our screens in venues so that all spectators can enjoy the events, and the content for our sports presentation films is predominantly imagery.”

As part of Together! 2012, Signdance Collective is performing at 3.30pm today (Wednesday) at St John’s Churchyard, Stratford Broadway.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

MP calls for inquiry into police protest violence

An MP has called for an inquiry into the “violence” of police officers against disabled activists who took part in a protest at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The Labour MP John McDonnell made the call during a Commons debate on Atos Healthcare, the much-criticised company that carries out “fitness for work” assessments on disabled people.

He said he supported the groups that had organised five days of protests against Atos’s sponsorship of the London 2012 Paralympics, and said he was “calling for an inquiry into violence against people with disabilities who protested last week at the Department for Work and Pensions”.

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), the grassroots campaign group that led the protest at the DWP’s Caxton House building in Whitehall on Friday, has welcomed McDonnell’s call.

DPAC’s steering group will be discussing McDonnell’s comments and a likely complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission at a meeting tonight (Friday).

One of the wheelchair-users who took part in the protest is already considering legal action against the Metropolitan police, after he was left with a fractured shoulder when officers tried to break up the peaceful protest.

Another protester, Adam Lotun, had to be held in his wheelchair by fellow activists as officers tried to drag his chair away.

DPAC said the police’s use of force was “excessive, unnecessary, reckless and contravened our right to peaceful protest”, and that it was “difficult to see the police response as anything other than an attempt to provoke a violent reaction from the protesters”.

It is the latest incident in which Metropolitan police officers have been accused of using excessive force against disabled activists, particularly those using wheelchairs.

The Caxton House action was part of a week of protests held to highlight Atos’s role in carrying out “fitness for work” assessments for the government, and widespread anger that the company has been a major sponsor of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Six DPAC activists – and two supporters – occupied the lobby of Caxton House, while four others chained themselves to each other to block the entrance.

They asked to see Maria Miller, at that point still the Conservative minister for disabled people – but were told she was not in the building – and delivered a series of demands, including that Atos should be removed from the contract to assess disabled people for their fitness for work, and that Miller should reverse her decision to close the Independent Living Fund.

Earlier, there had been a “fabulous and joyous” action organised by DPAC and the mainstream protest group UK Uncut outside the London headquarters of Atos, as the final element in a week of protests they called the “Atos Games”.

Hundreds of campaigners fired water pistols, party poppers, blew bubbles, threw water balloons, and performed Atos-style “miracles” to satirise the company’s apparent ability to cure people’s health conditions.

A small group of protesters then left to target the DWP’s Caxton House offices in Westminster, and were later joined by many more of those who had taken part in the earlier protest, including many prominent DPAC members.

But DPAC activists were astonished at how the police responded to the DWP protest.

DPAC has been involved in a series of high-profile direct actions over the last year, and had developed a friendly working relationship with senior officers from the Metropolitan police.

But that appeared to change on Friday afternoon.

Lotun, one of the wheelchair-users who was caught in the crush, said: “I was the first one the police collided into. They knew there were five wheelchair-users in front of them. To get past them they were really going to have to rough-house them.”

He said police tried to pull him out of his wheelchair, which was damaged. He said the Met needed to produce a policy urgently on how to deal with wheelchair-users and other disabled people during protests.

He said: “They do really need to know how they are going to deal with disabled people. People in wheelchairs are going to get hurt. They are not going to get out of the way.”

Andy Greene, one of the DPAC activists who had blocked the doors of Caxton House, said a row of police officers “pushed and pushed and pushed” the protesters towards another line of officers who were already positioned in front of the doors.

He said: “We were staggered by the response, by the physicality, it was so out of left field.”

Despite shouted warnings that there were disabled people with hidden impairments in the crowd, he said, the police continued to squeeze the protesters.

But DPAC say some officers were even more aggressive, with one grabbing a man with learning difficulties around the neck and pushing him against a wall, before being pulled away by a colleague.

Greene said there had not been any trouble in a string of previous DPAC protests over the last year.

“We have not had one incident or trouble at any time. The police have [until this protest] been fantastic.

“Every other time the police have been engaging, conversational and instructive but yesterday they actually ignored us for the first hour.”

A police spokeswoman said that one man was arrested for breach of the peace and obstructing police. He was taken to a police station and later bailed to return to another station in October.

She said that officers deployed to “unplanned protests” would “always make a dynamic assessment of the situation being policed, and will take into account the environment, type of protest, intentions of the crowd and circumstances of those protesting”.

But she said that “all police officers are accountable for their actions”, and added: “Anyone who is unhappy with any aspect of the policing of an event should contact the Metropolitan Police Service so any complaints can be thoroughly investigated”.

Police have so far failed to comment on McDonnell’s calls for an inquiry.

Meanwhile, Lotun has announced that he will stand as an independent candidate at the by-election in Corby on 15 November, caused by the decision of the Conservative MP Louise Mensch to stand down.

Lotun’s wide-ranging manifesto calls for welfare reforms that are “fair to all and fit for purpose”, criticises cuts to disability benefits, and calls for legalisation of cannabis use for medicinal purposes.

He said he was standing on a platform of “anti-discrimination, anti-cuts, anti-warfare and a return to common sense leadership”.

Among his policies he wants to scrap the “fitness for work” assessment and remove the contract to carry it out from Atos.

He said he had already secured support from some Liberal Democrats.

He added: “I am fighting for common sense, not just for disabled people.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Disabled claimants feel ‘persecuted’ by WCA system, say MPs

A disabled Labour MP has delivered a passionate appeal for the government to fix the “fundamental” problems with its “fitness for work” assessment.

Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee, was speaking in a Commons debate for the first time since a serious injury in February that left her hospitalised.

She said that disabled people felt “persecuted” by the system that assesses their eligibility for employment and support allowance (ESA), the new out-of-work disability benefit.

Dame Anne told MPs in a debate on the performance of Atos Healthcare, the company that carries out these work capability assessments (WCAs) for the government, that there was “something fundamentally wrong” with the system, and the contract that had been awarded to Atos.

She said: “It is not enough for government to say that the genuine claimant has nothing to fear. In too many cases, genuine claimants are not scoring any points in their initial assessment.”

She pointed to the British Medical Association’s vote to scrap the WCA, and to the increased workload of GPs due to treating patients whose health has deteriorated because of their experience with their WCA.

Dame Anne said: “When my constituent, who has lost his job because he has motor neurone disease, scores zero on his WCA and is found fully fit for work, there is something wrong with the system.

“When that same constituent appears in front of a tribunal and in less than five minutes is awarded 15 points, there is something wrong with the system.

“When some people would rather do without the money to which they are absolutely entitled rather than submit to the stress of a WCA, there is something wrong with the system.”

She added: “When someone with a severe illness has to fight for a year through an appeal to get the correct benefit, only to be called in almost immediately for another assessment, there is something wrong with the system.

“When people feel so persecuted, there is something wrong with the system.”

Dame Anne also pointed to the high percentage rate of successful appeals against being found fit for work, and the lack of an incentive for Atos assessors to “get the assessment correct first time”.

She said: “It is time for the government to act, because there is something fundamentally wrong with the whole system.”

The debate was secured by her fellow Scottish Labour MP Tom Greatrex, who has asked scores of questions about the WCA and the performance of Atos over the last year.

Greatrex was deeply critical of the government’s management of the Atos contract and its failure to fine the company for the large number of successful appeals.

He said there was a need for a process that “works in the interests of taxpayers, and of individual claimants and applicants”, and that “helps people who can work and does not hound those who cannot”.

Several MPs – in a debate dominated by Labour members – gave examples of disabled constituents who had been found unfairly fit for work, and had been forced to appeal to claim the ESA they were entitled to and needed.

The Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said there “can hardly be an MP who has not had a constituency case involving Atos and the work capability assessment”.

He said there were “persistent complaints that Atos is working to targets to fail people”, and that disabled people were facing “continual reassessments”.

Another Labour MP, John McDonnell, said that his early day motion calling for Atos’s contract to be withdrawn, and for the WCA to be replaced by a new system, had secured the signatures of 103 MPS.

He said: “Surely after that, and following debate after debate and the protests on the streets, the government must reassess the role of Atos, and establish a new system based… on reputable, fair and equitable criteria.”

He said he shared the “disgust” of many disabled people’s groups that Atos had been allowed to sponsor the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and supported the week of protests against Atos – organised by the grassroots campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts – that took place last week.

In one of his final actions as employment minister, before his promotion to justice secretary, the Conservative MP Chris Grayling told MPs that the WCA system had been “created by Labour four years ago when they were in government, and it is a system that we have consistently tried to improve”.

He added: “It is really important to emphasise that the reassessment of people on incapacity benefit is not a financial exercise and that there are no financial targets attached to it.

“It is about finding the right number of people who can make a return to work. It is not an exact science – it never was and never could be – but it is all about trying to help people back into the workplace if they can possibly return to it.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

London 2012: Paralympian praises ‘amazing’ Olympic access

A leading Paralympian has praised the “amazing” access and inclusivity of the Olympic Park and other London 2012 venues, after sampling events as a spectator just weeks before he is due to compete in the Paralympics.

David Clarke, who will captain Britain’s blind five-a-side football team, enjoyed athletics at the Olympic Stadium, football at Wembley Stadium, and the modern pentathlon on the final day of the Olympic Games.

He said: “From an inclusivity point-of-view, it worked brilliantly. I think they pretty much nailed it.

“I am 100 per cent confident that had I gone on my own it would have been an absolute breeze.”

He said he was also hugely impressed by the training given to the volunteers – the London 2012 “games makers”.

He said: “In terms of my access into the Olympic Stadium and everything else, people just couldn’t do enough.”

One of the aspects he was most impressed with, he said, was that when he arrived on the accessible bus at one of the modern pentathlon venues, a games maker greeted him with the words: “I am here if you want me to help.”

Clarke said: “It was just really easy, with no fuss. Someone had trained people very, very well.”

He was also impressed that he was offered audio description, which provided extra information – such as the direction athletes were approaching from – not available on the stadium commentary offered to other spectators.

And he said he was “overwhelmed” by the experience of being in the Olympic Park, particularly when he walked past the entrance to the athletes’ village and realised: “Oh my god, that’s going to be me in a few weeks’ time.”

He is “convinced” that the ParalympicsGB team will perform as well as Team GB has done at the Olympics, with the help of the passionate support of British spectators.

And he said this support would be just as important in events which require spectators to be silent during play, such as blind football, because the crowd’s reaction as the players walk out onto the pitch, during time-outs, and before penalties and corners, will be vital in boosting his team’s performance, just as it was for Team GB athletes during Olympic events such as show-jumping and gymnastics.

Clarke said the public’s response to the Paralympics had been “amazing”, with events at the main Olympic Park set to be sold out, partly due to the success of the Olympics.

He said: “I am very proud of the fact that that has happened, and ultimately very proud of the people who have organised it. They have done a most unbelievable job.”

He added: “I have quite often played to a few hundred people over the last 18 years, so to be stepping out to three-and-a-half thousand people will be remarkable. It is also a really tight space, which will make it even more gladiatorial.”

He said training was going “very well”, with the five-a-side squad preparing to head to Bath for its final preparations for the London 2012 tournament, but he added: “I am just looking forward to getting on with it.

“I think we are going to have a great time, but when you are in the games your experience is defined by your performance. We have the ability to beat every team in our group. Time will tell if we do.”

The ParalympicsGB five-a-side team starts its campaign against Spain at 3.30pm on Friday 31 August, with the medal matches on 8 September.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

London 2012: Sporting passions will provide Paralympic ‘showcase’

Two veteran Paralympians – with contrasting personalities – have spoken of their passion for their sports as they prepare to compete at London 2012.

Clare Strange has been playing wheelchair basketball since 1998, and will be taking part in her fourth Paralympic Games.

The former management consultant, one of the many current and retired Paralympians who earn income from giving “inspirational” speeches at conferences and other events, is predicting “close-fought battles” in the women’s wheelchair basketball competition, with any one of the eight teams capable of winning a medal.

She said: “It really is going to be who performs at the right time on the right day. I think that’s really exciting. It is going to be a massive showcase for the sport.”

She says she is “passionate” about wheelchair basketball and is determined to help her team “push the boundaries of what is possible” and refuse to accept “average”, and “really deliver what I know it is capable of in London”.

Strange is convinced that the crowd could play a “massive” part in helping the British team towards a medal.

“When you are playing you can’t hear them, you are in the zone,” she says. “If you are hearing them, you are not focused.”

But there are frequent breaks in play, she says, for example after every score. “That’s when you will hear the crowd. In that moment, in a close match when momentum can swing, I think it can have a big impact.”

Strange says she is excited about the possibility of London 2012 “changing the attitude of the world to disability”.

It is, she admits, a “pretty hefty goal”, but she thinks the games could lead to a “shift in perception of what is possible”.

It is, she says, about “finding something you are passionate about in your life and following your dreams”.

Louise Simpson, who has been part of Britain’s international goalball team since 1996, is just as passionate as Strange about her sport – she describes herself as “focused and ambitious” – but is content to let her sporting performance do most of the talking.

She told Disability News Service that she hates media interviews, and insists she is “not really a campaigner”, although she says she hopes disabled people “will get some motivation from [London 2012] not to let their disability stop them”.

Simpson says she loves the excitement of goalball, a sport designed for blind athletes, in which two teams compete to throw a bell-filled ball into their opponents’ goal.

Simpson says she loves the “fast-moving” sport because it demands that players are “always alert” and have “high concentration levels” as they constantly track the location of the ball.

She makes just one confession: the last time she cried because of losing a goalball game was in 2007.

When asked whether she would cry if the team lost at London 2012, her reply is blunt: “We are not going to lose.”

Britain’s women’s wheelchair basketball team play their first London 2012 match against the Netherlands at 1pm on 30 August.

The women’s goalball team start their medal quest with a match against China at 6.30pm on 30 August.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

London 2012: Paralympic trio hope for overdue recognition

Three British Paralympians have spoken of their hopes that London 2012 will lead to a greater recognition of their talents, skills and fitness.

Naomi Riches, a five-time adaptive rowing world champion and a Paralympic bronze medallist in Beijing in the mixed coxed four,  says she is desperate for the public to move away from the typical “oh, aren’t they brave” attitude.

The adaptive rowing team now trains alongside the non-disabled team that secured nine Olympic medals, and Riches believes the standards of the two teams are comparable.

She insists that she is looking forward to racing, even though she knows it is going to be “gruelling… painful, really hard work”.

As a partially-sighted member of the quartet, she wears goggles that block out all light, so she has to concentrate on listening to cox Lily van den Broecke – who steers the boat and delivers instructions to the rest of the crew – and attuning herself to the “feel” of the boat.

She says the crowd’s encouragement will sound like a “wall of noise” that will have a “positive effect” on her performance even though she will be concentrating on the cox and the boat, because she will know that “the majority of that crowd are shouting for us”.

She adds: “You have to stay within the rhythm and help the boat move fast and not do anything that will slow it down, and be really attuned to what’s happening beneath your bum and your feet.”

Riches, who has been rowing for eight years and describes herself as “quietly determined”, was talent-spotted at an adaptive rowing awareness day in 2004.

Another Paralympian who wants the members of ParalympicsGB to win better recognition of their talents – as well as medals – at London 2012 is wheelchair fencer David Heaton.

He came out of retirement to compete in the team event at London 2012, in what will be his fifth games, and will be the only member of the seven-strong fencing team to have previous experience of the Paralympics.

He says he will judge whether it has been a successful games by the quantity of media coverage.

“Hopefully, at the end of the games the British public will recognise Paralympic sport as an elite sport and we will get the recognition we deserve,” he says.

“A lot of people will not have seen any disability sport or Paralympic sports before. I am hoping people talk about us and recognise us and hopefully the profile of Paralympic sport grows and grows.”

The aspect of the games he is most looking forward to is the opening ceremony, particularly so he can watch his team-mates – such as 14-year-old Gabi Down, who has spoken of Heaton as something of a mentor to her and other members of the team – as they come out of the tunnel into the Olympic Stadium on the evening of 29 August.

“For everybody else, it will be their first time. I am more excited for them and [looking forward to] watching their faces as we come out, than for myself.”

His first games was Barcelona in 1992, when the Paralympics “stepped up a level”, and he says the opening ceremony “is an experience you never forget”.

Britain’s most successful boccia player, Nigel Murray – with two golds and a silver from three previous games, and currently ranked number one in the world – is another Paralympian hoping for greater recognition of his team-mates’ talents.

“I think it will let people know what people can achieve regardless of their disability,” he says.

Like Riches, he hopes “home advantage” will count. “We want people to get behind all the GB athletes and give us that support and encouragement,” he says.

“Hopefully, it will inspire us to do the best we can do and also intimidate our opponents.

“In Beijing, coming out [into the arena] was deafening and it was a partisan crowd. They played a huge part in those games and hopefully ours can do the same.”

The heats of the mixed coaxed four start at 11.30am on 31 August.

The men’s wheelchair fencing team event takes place on 8 September.

The boccia events take place between 2 September and 8 September.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Disabled people set to be outnumbered on Paralympic torch relay

The opportunity to celebrate disabled people’s diversity has been “stolen” by organisers of the Paralympic torch relay, according to a leading disabled people’s organisation.

The UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC) spoke out after research by Disability News Service (DNS) showed disabled people were set to be heavily out-numbered by non-disabled people on next month’s Paralympic torch relay.

An analysis of about 250 of those chosen to take part in the 24-hour relay shows that more than 150 appear to be non-disabled people.

Many of those taking part have been nominated for fund-raising or other charity exploits, while there will also be scores of representatives of the three “presenting partners” – London 2012 sponsors – who appear to have been picked only because they work for those companies.

Julie Newman, UKDPC’s acting chair, said organisers had “effectively stifled the voice of disabled people”.

She said: “I believe the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of disabled people’s experiences and lives has been stolen from us through corporate greed.

“How brilliant it would have been if the Paralympic torch relay had just gone from one disabled person to another disabled person.

“It would have been such a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate to the world that we are out and proud and part of the rich existence of society in the UK.”

Newman added: “The Paralympics is about disabled people, not about non-disabled people.”

The DNS analysis, which has been carried out on those selected to be torch-bearers whose “stories” have been revealed on the London 2012 website, shows that nearly a third seem to have been chosen because of their charity work.

The figures suggest that the process of asking members of the public to nominate people to take part has backfired, and has led to a glut of non-disabled charity volunteers, fund-raisers, carers and special school teachers.

Those nominated for the torch relay are supposed to embody the Paralympic values of “courage, determination, equality and inspiration”.

A significant number – more than 10 per cent – have been heavily involved in raising money for charity.

Only about a dozen disabled people seem to have been selected on the basis of their work campaigning for disability rights, while only one of 255 whose stories have been analysed appears to have been recognised for work with a disabled people’s organisation.

Newman said: “I don’t think it represents us. It reflects how society likes to see us, as recipients of either care or charity.

“I think it is very, very sad, because that is not what our experiences are.”

Channel 4 has already been criticised for its “absurd” decision to choose five non-disabled people – and not a single disabled person – to take part in the relay.

The three “presenting partners” – Sainsbury’s, Lloyds TSB and BT – have each chosen about 140 people to take part in the relay, with the other 150 or so being selected by bodies linked to the Paralympics itself and other London 2012 sponsors.

There will be a total of 580 torch-bearers, working in teams of five, with each team covering about half a mile, while a further 40 will carry the torch at the three “flame festivals” in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh, and at the flame lighting event in London.

Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, usually thought of as Britain’s greatest Paralympian, who is an “ambassador” for the torch relay, said that many British athletes who will be competing in the Paralympics had taken part in the much longer Olympic torch relay.

She said she thought that the reason for the distribution of torch-bearers “ultimately comes down to who was nominated”, but she said the relay had achieved a much higher profile than at previous games.

A spokesman for LOCOG, the London 2012 organising committee, said: “Nowhere have we said you have to be disabled.”

He said the three sponsors had “made an effort to ensure that it is a fair representation across the board”, and added: “This is not like a recruitment drive, it relies on public nominations. We wanted it to be open to everyone but [those selected] can obviously only reflect people who have been nominated.”

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s, which has already been criticised for using a panel of four non-disabled employees to select its torch-bearers, said: “All the nominated torchbearers were selected by Sainsbury’s panel following a nationwide in-store nomination process.

“The nominees were selected for their contributions to local communities and inspirational personal achievements and submitted to LOCOG for final inclusion in the relay.”

A BT spokesman said: “We are quite happy with the criteria and the nomination process we went through.”

He pointed out that BT’s final selections were made by the multi-gold-medal winning Paralympian Lee Pearson, and added: “We are delighted with the people that Lee Pearson selected.”

Lloyds TSB refused to comment.

LOCOG has also revealed the torch relay’s 87-mile route. The flame will start at Stoke Mandeville, in Buckinghamshire, the spiritual home of the Paralympic movement, before travelling through Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and all six London host boroughs.

It will enter the northwest of the capital, travelling through Harrow, Barnet, Brent and Westminster.

Once in the centre of London, it will be carried down Regent Street from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus, passing Westminster Abbey, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square, before crossing the Thames over Lambeth Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge, which will by then be displaying a giant version of the Agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Games.

It will pass through Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Canary Wharf, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Barking and Newham, before finally making its way into the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Transport for London admits step-free budget will plunge to zero

London transport bosses have finally admitted that they plan to invest nothing in projects aimed solely at improving step-free access to the capital’s tube network over the next three years.

Last week, Transport for London (TfL) was unable to explain why a document on its website showed investment in step-free access plunging from £47 million to zero in just four years.

TfL has now accepted that the figures are correct, but has blamed the fall on funding pressures dating back to 2009.

A TfL spokesman said these pressures “led to the deferral of a number of step-free schemes so that money could be used to preserve… vital line upgrades, which will result in a 30 per cent capacity increase on the tube for all Londoners, and accessibility improvements at the highest priority stations.”

The spokesman said that continuing work to improve step-free access – worth “tens of millions of pounds” – would continue to take place as part of larger station upgrade projects.

But he confirmed that funding solely for step-free access work would drop to zero next year.

A total of just 65 of 270 tube stations are step-free from street to platform, with another station to be added this summer, and another seven by 2018 through the station upgrade programme and the Crossrail project.

Transport for All (TfA), which campaigns for accessible transport in London and uncovered the TfL business plan which contained the figures, said: “76 per cent of tube stations remain totally unuseable to wheelchair-users, and other disabled people, because of a lack of lifts.

“London is a world city, yet the lack of a ring-fenced budget for step-free access means that disabled people are denied a fundamental freedom: to travel as equal citizens.”

The business plan outlines how much TfL will be investing across London Underground until 2017-18.

The “step-free access” section shows that investment in 2009-10 was about £47 million, before falling to about £33 million in 2010-11, about £28 million in 2011-12 and about £23 million this year, but will plunge to zero for the next three years.

Even in 2016-17, there will only be about £4 million investment in step-free access, and less than £10 million in 2017-18.

TfL said it had invested “hundreds of millions of pounds in making the transport network more accessible in the last few years, with improvements such as new lifts, trains, platform humps, wide aisle gates, tactile paving and audio and visual displays”, while its bus fleet was “the most accessible in the world”.

He said that “nearly 40 per cent of all stops and stations across London’s rail-based public transport network [which includes rail, tube and trams] are currently step-free”.

Meanwhile, TfL has announced new measures to improve access for disabled visitors to this summer’s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A series of short online films will help disabled people unfamiliar with London’s public transport system use TfL’s ticketing and journey-planning systems, buses, the tube, Docklands Light Railway and taxis.

TfL’s journey planner has been upgraded to make it easier to plan step-free travel online.

And TfL has also announced that 16 key London 2012 tube stations that have a gap between the train and platform – including Earl’s Court, King’s Cross, Oxford Circus, Southfields, Stratford, West Ham, Westminster and Wimbledon – will provide temporary manual boarding ramps for wheelchair-users.

When requested, staff at the departure tube station will call ahead to the destination to ensure that a ramp and member of staff will be waiting for them.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com