Athletes, volunteers and spectators called for improvements to accessibility at major sporting events after experiencing problems at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
ITV.com reported that Helene Raynsford, Chair of the Paralympics GB Athletes’ Commission, raised the issue on Twitter after seeing the light of six-year-old Bobby Ryan, who couldn’t see over railings from his wheelchair.
Others voiced concerns about parking, steps and general layout and design.
Bobby hit the headlines after his mum complained that he was unable to watch the 3×3 basketball at Birmingham’s Smithfield venue because court-side railings were too high.
The media reported that stewards gave Bobby two giant foam hands to sit on but he still had to pull himself up to the railings to try and see the competition. He ended up sitting on his mother’s lap for the three-hour match.
British Paralympian Tully Kearney MBE, who volunteered at the Games, said she experienced problems on her first day when she parked in her allocated blue badge space, to find it was 0.9 miles away from the venue.
She told ITV.com: “That’s a 23 minute walk or push, it was uphill, and loads of paving slabs, and lots of cars parked because it was a residential street, so it was really hard for me to get there.
“The concrete is all different types, there’s different level, there’s dips everywhere. So it is quite difficult to get around, so I wanted someone with me in case I fell out of my chair.”
Dr Hannah Barham-Brown told ITV.com she travelled to Birmingham arena from Leeds to watch the gymnastics but a lack of accessible tickets meant she had to buy ones without blue badge parking.
Hannah said: “When we did find somewhere, it was just over half a mile away. And then I found people weren’t interested in telling me where the lifts were and expected me to climb flights of concrete steps.”
Helene, a former paralympics and world rowing champion, said: “I would like to try to find a solution, it is not just Commonwealth Games 2022 and I don’t want to be overly critical of them, I want to see how we can influence event organisers to make things truly accessible, sometimes having people with disabilities as part of the design workforce is helpful.
A Birmingham 2022 spokesperson told ITV.com: “Our Games is the first to have a dedicated accessibility team and we have also worked with our Accessibility Advisory Forum to provide feedback to us in planning.
“We work with our venues to continually improve the experience for everyone, and we would encourage spectators to speak to our team to see how we can enhance their visit.”
