I HAVE heard it said that you can judge a community by the way it treats people with a disability.

Recent events at the Sydney Track and Field Classic bring into question our commitment to treat our Paralympic athletes with fairness and equality.

Canberra’s Evan O’Hanlon is the dual Paralympic gold medallist in the 100 and 200 metres from London; he is the fastest runner in the world for athletes with cerebral palsy. Evan has been an ambassador for the Paralympic movement as well as track and field.

Imagine his disappointment at the way things unfolded at the Sydney Classic. Some of the issues that have been documented include: Evan and other athletes with a disability found that their names weren’t included on their runners’ bibs in the same way as provided to the able-bodied athletes; only able-bodied athletes were profiled on the big screen at the track; there was little understanding by the ground announcers of the different classes of athletes with a disability; and the athletes with a disability felt as though they were being rushed through their events.

It was far from satisfactory and understandably Evan was fuming. All he wanted was parity with the able bodied athletes.

His decision to break his silence on the injustice hopefully will lead to change and more recognition of Paralympic sportspeople not just within the wider community but, it would seem, within the individual sports themselves.

Paralympic swimmers have also had issues with their sport and the lack of recognition. The decision during live television coverage to put the Paralympic swimmers on during the advertising breaks and thus miss out on coverage has been just one area of concern.

Fundraising for Paralympians is another bug bear of mine. People fundraising outside shopping centres in Canberra is a difficult way to gain significant funds for athletes.

I was under the impression that the Federal Government provided funding through the Sports Commission for all elite athletes and, if this is the case, there wouldn’t be a need to fundraise outside shopping centres.

It is obvious we can do more as a community and as a society to provide the necessary support to our Paralympians. We should be proud of these athletes and treating them as second-class citizens does little to enhance a stereotype that still obviously exists amongst some.

Barr says the jury’s out

THE situation with the proposed southside track and field facility appears clearer following a meeting involving the ACT Government and ACT Athletics.

There were concerns the Government was planning to build the multi-million-dollar facility, with a synthetic track, on the limited site of the existing track at Woden.

Little Athletics said it wanted the new facility to be built at Stromlo, with the capability of hosting major championships.

Sports Minister Andrew Barr says the site for the new facility hasn’t been decided and says it was never the plan to build a facility that would replace the AIS as the venue for major track and field events in Canberra.

More courts for Lyneham

AND on facilities, plans for the new tennis complex and sports facility at the National Sports Club at Lyneham have been finalised.

The plans include 30 new tennis courts which is an increase on the current 25 courts. The latest submitted plans include two swimming pools, one 25-metre indoor pool and a 25-metre outdoor pool.