You don’t use a wheelchair, but what if you did?
December 4th, 2014
Ever stopped to think about this? How would you negotiate your way around the city, move about at home, in the workplace and on the streets?
Preparing to stage two of the biggest sporting events in the world, and the first Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in South America, Rio 2016 staff come face-to-face with this challenge every day. Accessibility is an ever-present need in the daily life of the Organising Committee.
Our commitment is to welcome everyone so that they can participate in a free, independent and dignified manner, without physical barriers. That is why we are providing full accessibility at our facilities and constantly training our workforce to keep this in mind.
To provide the necessary structure, our workers need to be acutely aware of this issue. We thought, what if we could give them the opportunity to experience, even for a few hours, the challenges and difficulties that people with an impairment have to face every day? How much would this experience change their behaviour and encourage them to plan a better and more accessible Games?
In 2013, we set up a project under the banner “I am not a wheelchair user. But what if I was?” This was a simple idea. Workers would spend either half or a full day working and moving around in a wheelchair. They would have to do everything in the wheelchair, including visiting the bathroom! And for those attempting the full day experience, this challenge included leaving the Committee’s premises to have lunch.
The initiative had an immediate impact. For Vanessa Sales, who works in Sports Policy and Operations, spending a day in a wheelchair gave her a better understanding of the needs of others, both as a citizen and professional. She has since become an “Accessibility Inspector”.
For Isadora Brito, from Medical Services, taking part in the project gave her real insight into the difficulties faced not just by wheelchair users, but other people with an impairment, such as senior citizens, and adults and children with special needs.
Following the success of “I’m not a wheelchair user” in 2013, the Committee decided to administer a further dose in 2014. Supported by Ottobock, official supplier for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, who will provide us with 10 wheelchairs between 3 and 15 December, we will be running the second round of “I’m not a wheelchair user. But what if I was?”, open to our staff, trainees and those interested in this experience.
With less than two years to go, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a watershed event for accessibility in Rio de Janeiro, a great opportunity to improve the city’s infrastructure and meet our citizens’ needs, as well as being an ideal platform for changing people’s behaviour, making others more acutely aware of what it means to live with an impairment.
What are you doing to improve accessibility in your environment and the way you relate to people who face these challenges?