<spits out drink when he reads this>trailgumby wrote:Can the AIS or Paralympic committee provide any assistance with speeding things up?
I'll let you in on a little secret:
The AIS / Paralympic side of things are not in any way remotely interested in the general disabled population, sport access etc - they are only interested in gold medal contenders. To be frank, their actions at times can be quite disheartening for those wishing to compete in a sport but who are not in their eyes gold medal prospects. Indeed at times you get the impression they'd rather you went away. I thought I was being paranoid at times but over the years I spoke with enough people to realise I wasn't alone in experiencing this. Just like the CA High Performance Unit, their funding is tied to gold medal outcomes. Paralympics is an industry where benefits to the general disable population are somewhat intangible - the quadrennial exposure to the general population who go - "wow aren't they amazing" and in their minds it normalises disabled people, to those a bit fresh on the disabled scene who see it as something to aim for, but too bad if you find out you're not up to world standard.
I had a further disheartening interaction with the bureaucracy today, rather depressing and anxiety provoking to be honest. Don't really wish to discuss it much more. Not for now at least.