[Blind-rollers] Disability access needs improvement at Sochi Games

[Becky Frankeberger]

Disability access needs improvement at Sochi Games
After $51 billion, it should be easy to get around at the Olympics - for
everyone.

BY OSKAR GARCIA
Published: Today

Cable protectors lie across a walkway next to the Iceberg Skating Palace at
the 2014 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. After
$51 billion, it should be easy to get around at the Olympics - for everyone.
Organizers have repeatedly touted accessibility for people with disabilities
as one of the chief lasting benefits of hosting the Winter Games in Sochi.
But with less than three weeks until the Paralympics, infrastructure around
Olympic Park and its venues are not entirely barrier-free.

Organizers have repeatedly touted accessibility for people with disabilities
as one of the chief lasting benefits of hosting the Winter Games in Sochi.
But with less than three weeks until the Paralympics, infrastructure around
Olympic Park and its venues are not entirely barrier-free.

Wheelchair access ramps at Laura Cross-country Ski & Biathlon Center aren't
easily visible, while stairs for walking access are steep and icy. Door
frames raised from the floor are all over the venues, including doorways
leading into lower seating areas and wheelchair seating at Bolshoy Ice Dome.

Wheelchair lifts at some of the hotels being used for the games only work on
one side of the stairs - and instructions are provided only in English. One
trailer with two restrooms for people with disabilities outside the Iceberg
Skating Palace doubles as a storage closet, filled with janitorial supplies
and a large trash can.

As the world saw when the Olympics opened Feb. 7, not everything is finished
or polished - there are certainly hurdles for people with disabilities.

Nearly 1,500 athletes are coming to the Paralympics right after the
Olympics. It's a much smaller scale than the games happening now, but in a
country that's never hosted the Paralympics before. Despite preparations for
years, issues remain for an infrastructure that won't be fully tested until
athletes from the 43 countries and their supporters arrive. The Paralympics,
starting March 7, include 72 events in fives sports over 10 days.

Ahead of that, people strolling around Olympic Park with wheelchairs,
walking sticks, crutches or other aids have been difficult to find during
the Sochi Games. Walkways are often blocked by cable protectors that create
awkward bumps 5 or 6 inches off the ground. In many places, ramps are simple
sheets of thin plywood, not always flush with the ground and almost always
added on to the structures they connect rather than being built in during
initial construction.

Arly Velasquez, an Alpine ski Paralympian for Mexico and analyst for Claro
Sports, said buses are accessible to those in wheelchairs but drivers
frequently don't know how to use the lifts, forcing him to either
demonstrate himself or wait for another bus. And when he arrived at his
hotel one night, the wheelchair lift leading to his room wasn't working, so
he had to improvise by strapping himself to his chair with a belt, he said.

"I just put my computer on the top of the stairs," he said, "and I just
climbed with the hands."

'A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION'

Craig Spence, spokesman for the International Paralympics Committee, said
the problems "are totally relevant but hopefully they'll be ironed out
before the Paralympics start."

All venues for the games and infrastructure have been built in accordance
with an IPC accessibility guide, he said. The issues themselves, Spence
said, are a sign of how far Russia has come since winning the games seven
years ago.

"That the lift is there in the first place ... is a step in the right
direction," Spence said.

A smooth run is key to long-term plans for the games to encourage more
access for people with disabilities throughout Russia. The last time the
nation hosted the Olympics in 1980, it refused to stage the Paralympics,
saying the country did not have people with disabilities.

Evgeniy Bukharov, head of the Paralympic Integration Department for the
Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, said he is confident the venues and the
athletes' villages are fully accessible for athletes, spectators and
families. Organizers plan to transition from the current games to the
Paralympics by adding more seating capacity, transportation and pathways for
people with disabilities, he says.

Organizers produced a 104-page handbook detailing the accessibility features
throughout Olympic and Paralympic venues -including the biathlon center -
plus hotels and key transit hubs. And staff is planned at each venue to
handle complaints on access issues and find problems that need fixing. In
some areas, like ski venues, more personnel are planned in places where
accessible infrastructure wasn't practical, Bukharov said.

Organizers have been trying to work with developers, construction companies
and fire officials, among others, to prioritize accessibility issues while
meeting their needs. Raised door frames, for example, are required in some
areas by fire officials so air can't get under the door, he said.

Bukharov said bus drivers for the games were hired relatively last-minute
but will train more for the Paralympics on using lifts on buses.

"I hope that these games will be very convenient for people with
disabilities, particularly for athletes, because everything was built to
create a good atmosphere to support them to achieve that (high) level in
competition," Bukharov said.

Russian officials have made an effort in recent years to make transport and
public buildings accessible to people with disabilities. Some metro stations
have lifts or ramps for people in wheelchairs but the application is
scattered. Public buses are built low to the ground, but often have no lifts
and are therefore not accessible to people with disabilities traveling
without assistance.

As recently as September, a Human Rights Watch report said the more than 13
million people with disabilities in Russia have significant barriers in
trying to go about daily life. As a result, they rarely leave home.

Disability rights researcher Andrea Mazzarino, who wrote the report, said
people in Russia generally want to help those with disabilities but often
suggest personal help rather than infrastructure changes that would allow
people with impediments to get around on their own. "It sort of reflects
this idea that it's not important and it's not expedient to allow people to
use public services independently."

THE BIGGEST TEST

The IPC did an audit of the Sochi venues in January, Spence says, and it
plans to assess the situation on the ground at the venues when staff begin
to arrive Friday, suggesting changes as needed. "We're not expecting too
many surprises," he said.

But he acknowledged that the biggest test of any infrastructure comes when
people using it arrive. And, he said, guests shouldn't have the same
expectations outside of Olympic Park, despite the strides Russia has made.

"Outside the venues, there will be some issues," he said. "You can't change
an entire city in the seven years that you go from winning the games to
hosting the games."

Hundreds of buses with disability access used around Olympic venues, for
example, are expected to be put to use around the country after the games
end, Spence said.

But Mazzarino said Russians haven't seen improvements so far. "Residents
outside the tourist zone have not benefited significantly," she said.

Officials for several national Paralympic organizations declined comment,
saying they would get impressions of Sochi on site when they arrived. Tiina
Kivisaari, secretary general of Finland's Paralympic Committee, said the
country's staff and athletes didn't notice any serious problems during
visits over the last year, but almost everything was under construction.

"From our Olympic team, we have heard that there's been some problems, e.g.,
with elevators, but we still trust and hope that villages, venues, etc.,
will be accessible when (the) Paralympic Games start," she said in an email.

Things visually look accessible in Sochi, but aren't as practical as they
seem, Velasquez said. He said he's been able to make things work, navigating
ramps that lead to dead ends or stairs and doing wheelies to get over cable
protectors.

"I can do that, but not all of the wheelchair users can do it," Velasquez
said. "I can do it because I am an athlete and also because this chair is
very good, but not all of the people will have this kind of wheelchair."

Athletes, he said, want to be independent.

"More than anything, you're just looking to do things by yourself,"
Velasquez said. "You don't strive to be depending on someone else because it
just takes time and just takes someone to be there."

Associated Press writers Dennis Passa in Krasnaya Polyana, Laura Mills in
Moscow and AP photographer Julie Jacobson in Sochi contributed to this
report. Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/oskargarcia



Becky Frankeberger

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