Having stunned the world, and Hitler, by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens returned to America and found himself locked out due to the colour of his skin. Part of the racial discrimination he was on the receiving end of meant that, even when he attended events that were being held in his honour, he was humiliatingly forced to enter by the back door and then to use the service lift once inside. As the 2016 Rio Paralympics finish, it’s odd to think that for many British athletes returning from Rio that experience will be a familiar feeling. Back doors and service lifts are an all too common way of disabled people (wheelchair users in particular) entering buildings.
Fortunately the similarity between Owens’ experience and that of British Paralympians pretty much ends there. Disabled people are not regularly treated with the same level of bigotry as African Americans were in Owens’ time. Our Paralympians will return from Rio heralded as heroes. It would be stunning if Theresa May to snubs them as Roosevelt did Owens. But even an invitation to Downing Street is a mixed blessing when you can’t get onto the tube home afterwards. The problem that exists now is an issue of carelessness rather than institutional hatred.
You may not think this is a big deal. You may find this comparison contrived or even crass. But there is a point here. Disabled people aren’t being forced out of hospitality venues due to overt discrimination, but a combination of the difficulty and the embarrassment involved in merely entering the premises means many people simply stay at home. Not knowing, when you leave your house, if and how you’ll be able to get inside your destination is putting people off. We want and need to change that.
Disabled access has improved, but not enough. Thanks to legislation and a general awareness of the need for accessibility, things are better than ever. However, it would be naive to believe that this means everyone, everywhere is playing ball. The ‘reasonable adjustment’ loophole in the 2010 Equality Act allows many venues to do nothing, failing to realise that a small change to include disabled customers would be good for long term business. Too often, disabled people are treated as compliance issues rather than customers. And this is four years after the London Paralympics which were said to have changed attitudes towards disability forever.
Disabled access in England does compare well with that which Paralympians would have found outside the Paralympic Village in Rio, but this is quite a low bar. Access in Rio has been described as horrendous and even the Olympic Park had difficult spots for wheelchair users. It’s a city where one in four people has a disability but it still takes 36 minutes to get to the metro platform at Copacabana via wheelchair lift. We expect better than that in the UK. Besides, if we look to judge how ‘socially progressive’ we are based on host venues of major sporting events then we are setting a very strange standard (see Sochi 2014, Qatar 2022 etc).
Eighty years ago Jesse Owens returned to an unequal society that refused to accept him. Having to enter through the back door was just one small part of the appalling treatment he experienced after his success. But we don’t live in a society like that, so it’s odd to think that many returning Paralympians will have similar issues entering buildings. This may be for different reasons, but it would be nice to know that everyone can enter every building on an equal terms.
We’re celebrating the effort that stylish hotels, restaurants and bars have made to attract guests with disabilities at the annual Blue Badge Style Awards next month. The Awards are about promoting stylish venues which also have good access and facilities. Too often people with disabilities don’t go out because they don’t know what to expect when they get there. We want to change that with our awards and app.