Uefa must make its showpiece event accessible as a lack of thought for wheelchair users led to a horror show in IstanbulAs a wheelchair user who attended the Champions League final in Istanbul last weekend, it was probably the worst experience I’ve ever had at a stadium. And I’ve been kettled outside Wembley with drunk fans pushing past my mum and knocking her over.When your team reach and win the Champions League final, you want to make memories from it. Unfortunately, Uefa created only nightmares. You have to question whether any thought was put in to considering the experience of disabled fans in the city during the planning process. Getting around Istanbul’s streets was difficult: dropped kerbs to help wheelchair...
This powerful competition has a more important job than the Olympics in opening doors and lifting the oppressed in societyI was taught to ski by a guy called Bill Bowness. He has sadly passed away now, but he was an American Paralympian with this big beard and a proper chilled vibe. He took me up a slope at Lake Tahoe once in one of the early sit skis and I remember it to this day: a fibreglass bucket seat bolted to a frame on top of a ski. Even balancing on one of these things was hard enough. I was horror-struck, but there was Bill teaching me, cool as you like, and he was literally skiing down the mountain backwards...
People with disabilities live in a world where so many of us are passengers; sport gives us the opportunity to be the driverI’ve just dropped Sarah Storey off at the airport. On the way, we had a really good chat in the back of the taxi. I’ve known Dame Sarah for 20 years; we competed at the Sydney Paralympics together and what she’s achieved since has been incredible. It was nice to have that time together as the Games heads towards the final stages, to get some nuggets of wisdom from her and see how much she’s absorbed of what has happened in the past two weeks.When we were in the taxi, and everything was all done, Sarah was relaxed....