Paralympians face unique funding challenges in achieving their dreams
Being an Olympian is expensive, but being a Paralympian can cost even more.
Just ask Kim Fawcett-Smith, the Canadian Forces Officer, paratriathlete and above-the-knee amputee had hoped to compete in the triathlon at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, but she just couldn’t afford it.
Between club fees, ($4,000) coaching fees, ($6,000) equipment costs ($23,000 each for two specialized prosthetic legs and $30,000 for technology upgrades) an competition costs (upwards of $25,000 in travel and accommodation in a year) it just got to be too much.
“There are huge cost differences between able-bodied and disabled athletes. Disabled athletes need equipment – or pay the cost for their guides, in the case of visually impaired athletes – that able-bodied athletes do not need,” she says.
Fawcett-Smith also explained that often able-bodied athletes get privileges that athletes with disabilities don’t, like bringing their physiotherapists and doctors with them.
“Many sports only select the disabled athletes with the least disability because they are cheaper – for example, hand amputees,” says Fawcett-Smith.
But what about financial support? Can’t Canadian paralympic athletes get sponsors or the Canadian Paralympic Committee [CPC] to cover their costs?
Some can, but for most athletes, like Fawcett-Smith, it’s not that simple. There are a number of systemic factors in Canadian parasports that prevent equal access to funding and for her it starts with a key building block of Canada’s Sport Policy.
Unequal Access and a Focus on Youth
Fawcett-Smith has travelled the path of an elite athlete in two different worlds. First, as a figure skater in the nondisabled world and now as a paratriathlete in the parasports world and she’s finding that the financial support and opportunity just isn’t there in the same way for adapted athletes.
“I think Canada has done a disservice to disabled people accessing parasport in this country. The focus has been on children with congenital disability who can fit into the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) models. This completely excludes traumatic injuries.”
The Long-Term Athlete Development Model – a cornerstone of Canada’s Policy on Sport and the Disabled Persons Act referred to within it – is about building elite athletes, including athletes with disabilities, from the ground up, starting with when they’re children and just getting into sports. Many of the available funding sources, including the Canadian Paralympic Committee, support this model. This leaves athletes like Fawcett-Smith, who are over 30 and acquired their disabilities later in life, with unequal access.
“There are 4 million people with disabilities in Canada. 800,000 are children born with a disability. This leaves 3.2 million who are lost or forgotten still capable of performing elite level para-athletics,” she says.
A lot of those people were once considered too old for elite competition, but with more and more athletes competing at older ages, sport policy is starting to recognize that age is largely irrelevant – unless you’re an adapted athlete.
CPC policy actually only recruits between the ages of 19-35,” says Fawcett-Smith. “If you are outside this demographic, CPC does not want to look at you.” This is unfortunate because many wounded service men and women are over 35. Fawcett herself was exposed to parasports through Soldier On – a recovery program for ill and wounded service members.
“Losing my leg was hugely traumatic. But when I woke up, I had a decision to make. I either sat in a wheelchair and died a slow painful, sorrowful death, or I could try and stand up and walk again. Once I was able to walk, I wanted to learn to run…and I did. I never swam competitively either, but I learned to do that too,” says Fawcett-Smith. “I truly and earnestly believe in the power of sport. I am not so certain that I believe in the power of parasport.”
Sponsorship Opportunities are Limited
Papito Wilson still believes in the power of parasport, even while he finds himself at a crossroads in his athletic career.
The Cuban-Canadian who came to this country in 2001 competed for Canada in the Wheelchair Volleyball World Championships and represented Canada in rowing at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. His highest finish was a bronze medal at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in Eton, England. At first, there was some talk that he would try to make the rowing team for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, but now he has fallen in love with a new sport – wheelchair tennis.
“I love sports. It doesn’t matter which one. One of my favourites is wheelchair basketball, but now I want to so something on my own. This is why I love wheelchair tennis, even though I don’t have much experience,” he says.
But changing your entire sport means new equipment, a new club to train at and new coaching – all of which costs money.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get money or sponsors. I’ve only gotten money once,” admits Wilson.
But he’s hopeful that’s one stat he can turn around. As of this writing he’s hoping to approach connections at Amway – the health and beauty product company that has sponsored athletes in the past uses multi-level marketing to promote its products – to help him with money for travelling and a tennis wheelchair.
When he was part of the Canadian adapted rowing team he had a full-time job, but received an extra $24,000 a year tax-free. He also received a lot of perks and benefits that went towards helping him train and compete.
“My membership at the rowing club, which was normally $600 a month, was only $56 a year. Plus, as a member of team Canada, I got free massages and physiotherapy. Though some of that changed when I switched sports. When I went into adapted canoeing and kayaking and we made the World Championships, we had to pay $2,000 just to get there, it was pretty painful,” says Wilson.
Sponsorship can be just as hit or miss. Fawcett-Smith has received access to sponsorship in the past, but she says that’s only because she served in Afghanistan and is a designated veteran.
“Sponsorship is limited for athletes with disabilities. Major companies like Coke, Nike, etc. want Usain Bolt promoting their products and not the guy with cerebral palsy who may not look as “cool” as Usain in their shoes or drinking their soft drink. Lets be honest, unless you look and perform like Clara Hughes or Sydney Crosby, you are not going to find sponsors,” she says.
The Royal Bank of Canada, which often heralds itself as a “proud supporter of The Canadian Olympic Committee and Team Canada since 1947” in ads that run constantly during the Olympic Games, does not sponsor the Canadian Paralympic Committee and limits its support of Paralympic athletes to its RBC Olympians Program.
“RBC hires both Canadian Olympic and Para athletes [winter and summer] as community ambassadors who bring Olympic messages of excellence and leadership to Canadian communities. Athletes are provided with the opportunity to gain valuable skills that will help them prepare for life after sport, while also receiving much-needed funding to help them realize their Olympic and Paralympic dreams,” says Jackie Braden, senior manager of communications at RBC.
The athletes assist with communications, marketing, sponsorship, charitable and community investment programs while also working and maintaining their training and competition schedules. However, of the 52 athletes currently participating as of this article, only eight are Paralympians. We asked Braden why and didn’t receive a response.
“RBC can’t comment about the number of able-bodied athletes versus disabled because its the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Canadian Olympic Committee [COC] that nominate the athletes for RBC funding, so they are responsible [for the unequal numbers.]”
RBC is also looking for the next Olympic athlete through their RBC Training Ground Program. With support from the COC and the Canadian Olympic Foundation, potential athletes (youth in their teens and 20s, which supports the long-term development model in Canada’s Sport Policy) are put through a series of workouts in front of national sports organizations and their results are measured against performance benchmarks. Those who meet or exceed them will have their Olympic dream funded by RBC to tune of $10,000 per athlete for each of the next three years.
“Para-athletes have different requirements for their sports and the specific combine-style workouts for RBC Training Ground would not support their benchmarks. The Canadian Paralympic Committee does hold similar events for para-athletes,” says Braden.
In recruiting, the CPC and COC only respond to the names put forward by the national sports organizations (NSOs) The NSOs get their funding from Sport Canada and include Triathlon Canada, Swim Canada and Golf Canada, among others. Thus far, Wheelchair Basketball Canada and Wheelchair Rugby Canada are the only NSOs solely for athletes with disabilities and usually only the best of those that come to the attention of an NSO receive sponsorship.
“Unless you are a ‘golden’ performer that your National Federation wants to promote/support, then its going to be really difficult. Golden performers are those ‘one of’ athletes that come around once in a blue moon who jump into sport and win gold medals from day one. These are typically the least disabled athletes in their classification in that specific sport,” says Fawcett-Smith.
It Comes Down to Policy
So why are funding opportunities for athletes with disabilities so scarce when compared against non-disabled athletes even though they face more expenses? It comes down to how disabled athletes are regarded at a policy level. Read Canada’s Policy on Sport and you’ll find a lot of action words featuring clear objectives for goals that should be reached in the present tense and are well on their way to being achieved. The policy is backed by many practical, actionable and very specific plans for reaching those goals.
Read the Disabled Persons Act referred to within that policy and you’ll see much more vague terms like “We envision.” It’s very clear that the Disabled Persons Act is focused on research and further consultation, while the Policy on Sport focuses on concrete action.
“Disabled athletes are ensconced within an Act, but not policy relating to sport? How come and why not? The country’s policy & directional statements are for able bodied athletes only. Envisioning inclusion is not inclusion, period,” says Fawcett-Smith.
Canada knows it has to do better. An evaluation of the success of the Policy on Sport by the Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council released in 2010 showed that while it has been largely successful when it comes to athletic performance and results, it is failing when it comes to participation in sports, especially among people with disabilities.
“There is a dearth of evidence on the participation of some under-represented groups. Information on participation levels of children and youth with a disability (under the age of 14) was collected in 2006, but no further data has been collected addressing the remainder of the population with a disability,” reads the report.
If you don’t even know clearly who among people with disabilities is even participating in sports, how can you properly support them to help them reach elite status?
“Maybe Canadian disabled athletes should get up off their butts and force the issue. Demand policy change. You can’t bitch about something when you are not doing something to bring about change,” says Fawcett-Smith.