Paralympic deaf-blind swimmer withdraws after her mother was not allowed to go to Tokyo | sport

Myers has Usher syndrome, a rare genetic condition that made her deaf at birth. The condition also gradually affected her eyesight. In order to survive in the Olympic village, you need someone to help her. Since 2017, her mother has been her personal assistant.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee told Meyer’s father in an email that organizers and the Japanese government were preventing his daughter from bringing a personal assistant. Due to the measures taken to keep the chance of the coronavirus spreading as low as possible, there is a strict protocol in place that defines precisely who can and who cannot travel to Tokyo as a member of the delegation.

in conversation with Washington Post The six-time medalist tells that she would have loved to go to Japan. “Swimming has given me my identity. Becca has always been the girl who swims. This is so hard for me. But I have to say something to make a difference, because this cannot go on any longer.”

“This is the Paralympics,” Myers said. “We should celebrate everyone’s disability. We have broken down barriers in society and defied all odds. Yet we are treated this way? As a burden to the team?”

“The past few weeks have been very difficult,” she concluded. “But I know I have to stand up and say enough is enough. I have to protect young children. I have to do something to force change.”