Sylvia's Journal

The day before I left Niamey we visited an old friend who is the President of the Niger Special Olympics committee. He is one of the great promoters of sport for people with disabilities. He is very credible in that role because he has won various championships in his wheelchair. He was part of a senior leadership program that ICRC organized with MSH several years ago. 

As an activist for the rights of people with disabilities, not just in sports, but also when they travel on an airline he makes a stink when such rights are not honored. On his way to one of our workshops in Addis he called out Ethiopian Airlines– which, although committed on paper to make accommodations for travelers, in reality he was left to his own devices. Unlike the many people for whom wheelchairs are lined up in the jetway, he cannot walk at all. We wrote an angry letter to the airline. He assured me that since then, that airline has facilitated his travel.

His office is at the large sport complex where Nigeriens of all ages and abilities are busy with all sorts of sports: there are the able-bodied people who walk or run around the complex for their constitutional, small kids in a martial arts class, pick-up basketball games and more. Our friend led us to a place under the bleachers where a volleyball game was going on, played by people who have lower limbs that can’t hold them up. They play the game seated, on the hard and uneven ground. We watched for a long time, it was fascinating to see them play, with such joy and abandon. It was another example that everything is possible – you just have to be creative. The uneven ground does sometimes create holes in their pants, but an effort is underway to have a padded playing field.

The Special Olympics community is hard at work to get young kids with disabilities to engage in sports, expanding the choices. They know that sports has a hugely positive impact on their lives. Unfortunately the stigma is considerable and many parents don’t even know what is possible, assuming that having a disability is a life sentence.