Deafblind Paralympic Swimmer Withdraws After Mother Banned From Tokyo | sport

Meyers suffers from Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that made her deaf from birth. The condition also gradually affected his vision. To stay in the Olympic Village, she needs someone to help her. Since 2017, her mother has been her personal assistant.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee told Meyer’s father in an email that organizers and the Japanese government prohibited his daughter from bringing a personal assistant. Due to measures to minimize the risk of the coronavirus spreading, there is a strict protocol that strictly determines who can and cannot travel to Tokyo as a member of a delegation.

In conversation with Washington post tells the six-time medalist that she would have loved to go to Japan. “Swimming gave me my identity. I’ve always been Becca the Girl Who Swims. It’s very hard for me. But I have to say something to bring about the change, because it can’t go on any longer. “

“These are the Paralympics,” said Meyers. “We should celebrate everyone’s disability. We have broken down the barriers of society and defy all odds. And yet we are treated this way? As a burden on the team?

“The last few weeks have been very difficult,” she concludes. “But I know I have to get up and say enough is enough. I have to protect the younger ones. I have to do something to force the change.