The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees Failed Becca Meyers: How We Can Do Better
By Robert Ludke, Skytop Contributor / October 4th, 2021
Over his career Bob Ludke has advised policymakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, taught at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, and provided counsel on sustainability, corporate governance, supply chain management, and environment, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for companies in the retail, oil and gas, transportation, and finance sectors.
He is the author of Transformative Markets, a book about the role of markets in fostering a more sustainable society (published in April 2020 through the Creator Institute of Georgetown University), and the creator of the Voices of Nature podcast in partnership with Global Conservation Corps.
Bob is a Senior Fellow at The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement. His work at The Harkin Institute focuses on research and engagement with the disability community, investors, and the private sector to facilitate ESG investment practices being used as a catalyst for achieving competitive, integrated employment of persons with disabilities.
Failing Becca
One of the most accomplished and decorated swimmers in the history of the United States will not be competing in the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
On July 20, 2021, Becca Meyers announced her withdrawal from competing in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Meyers is one of the greatest swimmers in American history and only one of 400,000 people in the world with Usher Syndrome, the most common genetic cause of combined deafness and blindness.
At an early age Meyers turned to swimming, competing for her high school and swim club teams. Representing the United States in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio games,Meyer won three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze medal. Her reason for swimming is simple: “When I swim, I can take off my hearing aid and forget that I have multiple disabilities: I’m in my happy place.”
Meyers was expected to add to her medal total in Tokyo. She withdrew from competition after being denied the use of a personal care assistant – her mother – by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). Meyers’ mother has been allowed by the USOPC to travel with her to international competitions since 2017 – following the challenges Meyers faced in 2016 during the Rio Games when she did not have a personal care assistant.
In justifying its decision to deny Meyers’ mother serving as her personal care assistant in Tokyo, the USOPC said in a statement, “We are confident in the level of support we will offer Team USA and look forward to providing them a positive athlete experience even in the most unprecedented times.”
The USOPC’s positive athlete experience, however, includes a single personal care assistant for the 33 U.S. Paralympic swimmers, 9 of whom have visual disabilities.
Why Becca Meyers Matters to All of Us
While not everyone is a world class swimmer like Becca Meyers, the discrimination she faced impacts all of us. Disability is a universal experience – every human will experience it at some point in their lives. While not all of us have a lifelong disability like Becca Meyers, we will experience some form of physical, cognitive, or emotional impairment (or a combination of those). Disabilities occur through injury, illness, aging, reactions to lived experiences, and the societal barriers that will exclude us from life’s daily activities.
Thus, it is in our interests to hold every institution to the highest standards – both legally and ethically. It does no one any good for people to stand by and watch the rights of others be violated and their abilities demeaned. You may not need those protections today, but you will tomorrow.
5 Lessons to be Learned So All of Us Do Better
The damage has been done. Meyers suffered a great deal of emotional stress leading up to and following her decision, and her country has lost the opportunity to benefit from an enormously talented and successful swimmer representing it at the world’s preeminent sporting event. Yet, all of us can learn from the mistakes made by the USOPC. By examining what the USOPC did wrong, hopefully all of us can do better for our family, friends, colleagues, and organizations we belong to.
Lesson #1: Always be Communicating
Big moments – such as the Olympics – always require a high degree of communication among everyone involved. Big moments occurring during a global pandemic require an even higher degree of communication. The USOPC failed in its communications with Becca Meyers. As Becca Meyers told the Washington Post, “No one has ever asked me what I need. No one has ever asked me that question.” Those two sentences almost certainly were never uttered by Michael Phelps before an Olympic Games.
Meyers’ statement is a powerful reminder that ongoing communications on both personal and professional levels is an imperative. Never assume you know how anyone else feels about a situation. Proactive communication is a “Need to Have” not a “Nice to Have” habit.
Lesson #2: Intention is Not Good Enough…Outcomes are What Matters
Without a doubt, the USOPC policy limiting the number of people allowed to travel to Tokyo was made with the best of intentions – keeping every athlete safe amid a global pandemic. However, the USOPC’s policy was so myopic it lost its purpose – facilitating an athletic competition. In the case of Becca Meyers, the USOPC’s role shifted from enabling her participation to one of ableism – dictating to her what she did and did not need.
Instead of engaging in ableism and social prejudice, it was imperative for the USOPC to find an outcome that allowed Meyers to compete in a way that also met the intent of its Covid-19 policies.
Lesson #3: Equality and Equity are Not the Same Thing
Every Olympic event is predicated on the notion of equality – a so-called “level playing field”. In its myopic focus of treating its athletes the same and ensuring a fair competition, the USOPC failed to foster an equitable experience for Becca Meyers. As the Milken Institute School of Public Health notes, “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” All Becca Meyers asked for was equity – a reasonable accommodation (her mother as a personal care assistant) to allow her to get to the starting block of her events. Once she dove into the water, she would be treated equal to every other swimmer.
Every person – disabled or not – has both sought out and needed some level of equity in their personal and professional lives. Administrative assistants, personal trainers, counselors, and tutors are forms of reasonable accommodations designed to bring equity and better performance to our lives.
Lesson #4: Live Your Values
The most damning failure by the USOPC was that it lost sight of its values. While the USOPC followed the policies designed to protect the health of the athletes in a time of a global pandemic, its rigid adherence to those policies meant that it forgot its values – which include phrases like “Pursue Excellence” and “Lead Courageously” and “Foster Belonging”.
Because Becca Meyers was not allowed to feel that she belonged on the team and was not put in a position to pursue excellence, the USOPC lost the courage to live its values. In so doing, the USOPC failed to hold itself to the same standards it expects of the athletes.
Furthermore, it is not the place of the USOPC to determine what is sufficient support for its athletes. The agency of athletes to foster belonging and excellence means they decide for themselves what their needs are and how they are best met.
It also is worth noting that the USOPC treatment of Meyers is not an isolated incident. The USOPC has for decades faced criticism and legal action for discriminating against Paralympic athletes.
Lesson #5: Every Challenging Opportunity is an Opportunity to Be Better
Times of disruption are perfect opportunities to take a step back, actively communicate to seek out diverse opinions, and focus on living the values you espouse. USOPC had an opportunity to raise the bar on how to bring greater equality, equity, and decency to how human beings are treated – and do so in the face of a pandemic that has wrought untold suffering across the world. Sadly, the USOPC chose not to rise to the occasion. Becca Meyers – and all the people inspired by her – suffer as a result. Hopefully, the USOPC will find a way to do better in the next Olympic Games.
The same standard holds true for the rest of us. Rather than treating disruption as a risk or a threat to the status quo, we must treat it as an opportunity to achieve something different and better – for individuals and organizations alike.