When 502 athletes with various disabilities competed at last year's winter Paralympic events, they were sliding on more than ice and snow. These athletes were riding a sea change in the public's perception of disability, a symbolic closing of a chasm that has separated the able bodied from the disabled since the inception of the Paralympics in 1948.
"It made people notice us. Prior to the games it was hidden a bit, not many people understood it or acknowledged it and now that they've watched me and my teammates race in the Alpine events and all the other events as well they were like, 'Wow, these people can actually ski.' It was cool," said para-alpine skier and Whistler resident, Morgan Perrin who has competed in two Paralympic Games. "I think even though it's not going to be the same as able-bodied events and probably never will be, at the same time we're getting more recognition and that's a great start."
Prior to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, there was a discernable lack of attention given to disabled sport in Canada. Aside from the occasional public pat on the head, Paralympic athletes were relegated to the sidelines behind their able-bodied counterparts and rarely given the support - financial or public - that they deserved. This support has been earned not just by overcoming disabilities but also for charging forth as serious athletes on courses designed to challenge their athletic prowess - a caveat that was finally achieved through the 2010 Paralympic Games. Anyone present at any of the sporting events last March will tell you the competitive edge is just as strong in the Paralympics.
"It was a huge leg up for a variety of those sports," said Don Lindsay, CEO of Teck Resources, which has pledged financial support to the Whistler Adaptive Sport Program (WASP) over the next five years. "I got to see Canada win the gold medal in Wheelchair Curling and I tell you what they can do is unbelievable and honestly the feeling in the arena was the same as it was for Gold medal hockey. The intensity and excitement was something. I think the Paralympics did a huge amount for disabilities in sports."
Though WASP has been working on improving the experience of disabled athletes in Whistler for decades, raising the profile of disabled competitors for the Paralympics helped the organization secure more than just funding in the lead up to the Games. The high profile of the Paralympic legacy programs helped boost WASP's publicity and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) gracefully propelled WASP to the forefront of outreach and school programs designed to improve awareness around disability issues.
"VANOC did a very good job of ensuring Whistler Adaptive was brought along as a partner at each of these different events so that people knew that there was a local organization that could provide the services that any individual would need if they were to access sport and recreation," said WASP executive director, Chelsey Walker. "The awareness that was built was not just for the benefit of individuals with disabilities but the ability for individuals to access a world class sporting event for an affordable cost opened the eyes for people who had the chance to see these athletes and to really appreciate what they were doing so I think across all sport and across both able bodied and disabled, whether you are an individual who is aging and looking into different sport options you could see what it takes to inspire excellence in yourself."
In a place like Whistler, which is an example of a recreation-centric community designed specifically to draw an active customer base, the upside of improving infrastructure for people with disabilities has obvious economic implications. Over the past five years the Resort Municipality of Whistler has added signage, parking, taxi service, TTY phone services, and ramps to ease mobility for the disabled in and around the resort.
"For me this was one of the surprises of the Olympics - that the Paralympics came with it and that there was this whole opportunity for Whistler to grow beyond the perception of what Whistler is to something much bigger, much more important and more enriching for the community and that is this relationship in association with athletes with disabilities," said Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed. "We absolutely take this seriously and one of our great intentions is to become known as a destination that is accessible and friendly for people disabilities of all types. It's a huge opportunity for Whistler, not just economically but to enrich us personally by giving back."
From the point of view of a person with a disability, Whistler has come a long way but still has certain measures it needs to take as a community to accommodate all its residents and visitors.
"Although I think the Whistler Resort does some great work little things are getting missed," said Hugh Tollett, director of Whistler for the Disabled Society. "Small things like having accessible barrier free route maps at the IHOST and Tourism Whistler offices in the Village for visitors available in a hand out form just like they do for able bodied visitors by providing maps to them, there were none there for the people with disabilities."
Tollet went on to say that the main barriers preventing the disabled from visiting Whistler have much to do with larger issues surrounding transportation - issues that are out of the community's control. A lack of wheelchair accessible bathrooms on planes presents a problem for any type of long-distance travel, though Air Canada has ordered 37 new aircrafts with appropriate facilities for 2012. Trains restrict wheelchairs to one per car and coaches require 48 hours notice to order a mobility-restricted bus on any given route.
Despite the drawback, the Paralympics acted as a catalyst for change for improving the experience for disabled travellers and residents in Whistler.
"Legacies, including the enhancements to Whistler's accessibility in the lead-up to the Paralympic Winter Games - and a significant increase in global awareness of Whistler as an accessible community - are providing tangible, long-term tourism benefits," said Breton Murphy, communications director for Tourism Whistler. "There are tangible examples of improvements to accessibility in the resort and, over the long term, we expect to see growth in visitation as Tourism Whistler focuses on converting that increased awareness into increased visitation, by providing people with compelling reasons to visit our resort."
While Murphy said it's still too early to measure direct increase in Whistler's tourism from visitors with disabilities, continued movement to improve infrastructure through WASP is sure to expand the prominence of the resort in the physically challenged community.
A recent donation of $535,000 by Teck Resources will be spread out over five years and used to improve programming and accommodations for athletes with disabilities. It will also be put towards expanding the Jeff Harbers Adaptive Sport Centre at Olympic Station on Whistler. The original facility was built with donations made by Whistler Rotary, Whistler Blackcomb, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, and the Harbers family but its small size restricted the number of disabled skiers WASP could work with. The extension - a 2,241 square foot building that WASP will use as an equipment and facility space for athletes on the hill - will allow a greater number of clients to enjoy the recreation opportunities available to them on Whistler Blackcomb.
"If you want to build a great country you have to have Canadian champions in all walks of life," said Teck Resources CEO Don Lindsay as he handed the cheque to WASP's president Sarah MacLeod. "It could be top people in medical research, it could be in the entertainment field. It could be a Canadian company building a champion on the world stage as we're trying to do at Teck, or it could be a Canadian who wins a gold medal and stands at the podium at the Paralympics and it's terrific to know that the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program will be contributing to that."
