How the Government is failing Paralympians – Sports Gazette Special
Soon, the UK will hit a stark clash of ideals as Paralympians will be held aloft as national treasures in the spotlight of Paris 2024, while back home, the Conservative government continues to slash support for disabled people.
Just this week, on the 24th April, the UN ruled that the UK government had “failed to address grave and systematic violations of the human rights of disabled people.” The report follows the announcement of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to further cut disability benefits as he spoke of a “sicknote culture”.
While Paralympians are rightly celebrated for their sporting success, we can all too often forget that they are also impacted by the government’s lacking empathy and disregard for the rights of disabled people.
In this podcast, we examine how the Government is failing Paralympians and those at the grassroots level. We focus on the experiences of Hannah Cockroft, Anne Wafula Strike, Will Perry, and Sam Gough. Their experiences highlight that as we rightly cheer these athletes across the line in Paris, we must remember that any government support is only surface level.
