Person: Deaflympian/Paralympian Swimmer Rebecca "Becca" Meyers
“While it is true that deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes can and do take part in the Olympics and Paralympics, the USOPC only tracks categories of disability that are covered under the Paralympics, and deafness is excluded. Because of this technicality, Becca Meyers, a deaf-blind Paralympian, was denied reasonable accommodations and was pressed into making the decision to withdraw from the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.”
That was what USA Deaf Sports Federation President Jeffrey Mansfield testified before the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic (CSUSOP) hearing on September 6, 2023.
In his testimony and answers to the CSUSOP Commissioners’ questions, Mansfield named only one athlete - Rebecca “Becca” Meyers.
Who is Becca Meyers?
I have my own ‘Becca Meyers’ story. In September 2009, a USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF) official learned I would have a long stayover at the Los Angeles International Airport after the 2009 Deaflympics in Taiwan. He asked me if I could watch a 14-year-old swimmer at the airport until her parents would arrive with a plane later. I gladly accepted his request.
At the airport, the official handed Rebecca “Becca” Meyers into my care. For the next few hours, the very shy, quiet athlete and I walked around and had a little chat. She told me she had won her first-ever international medal – a bronze medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Her parents — Maria and Mark Meyers – soon arrived and thanked me for watching her. It was my last time to see Becca in person.
Since then, here are her athletic performances and awards.
2009 Deaflympics at Taipei, Taiwan
Bronze medal in the 4x200M Freestyle Relay at the age of 14.
Set American deaf record in the 4x200M Freestyle Relay
2011: Third World Deaf Swimming Championships at Coimbra, Portugal
Four gold medals: 200M Freestyle, 400M Freestyle, 800M Freestyle, and 4x200M Freestyle Relay
Set world deaf record in the 4x200M Freestyle Relay
Set deaf world championship record in 800M Freestyle
2011: Received the USADSF Sportwoman of the Year award.
2012: Paralympics in London, England.
Two medals: Silver (200m IM), bronze (100m free), 5th (50m free).
2012: Received the second USADSF Sportwoman of the Year award.
2015: Won the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award
2016: Paralympics in Rio, Brazil.
Four medals: gold (100m fly, 200m IM, 400m free), silver (100m free), 6th (50m free)
2017: Won the second Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award
2021 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan
Withdrew abruptly from the USA Team.
What Happened?
CSUSOP Commissioners Karin Korb, Patty Cisneros Prevo, and Melissa Stockwell already knew Meyers’ reason because they are Paralympians, too. I question whether the Commission will include the ‘Becca Meyers’ incident in the CSUSOP Report, which will be submitted to Congress this spring.
On July 20, 2021, Meyers made national news by withdrawing from the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics after the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) denied her accommodation request to bring her personal care assistant (supposed to be her mother.)
Mother? No problem; between 2017 and the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Meyers' mother, Maria, had been allowed to travel with her to international competitions as her personal care assistant (PCA.) With Maria there, Meyers won five gold medals at the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championship in 2018 and four medals and two world records at the World Para Swimming Championship in 2019.
The COVID problem caused the government of Japan to direct the Organizing Committee of the Tokyo Games not to “permit any personnel other than operational essential staff with roles related to the overall execution of the games into the country.”
After being informed that the USOPC would provide a single PCA on staff available to assist her when needed, Meyers wrote angrily in the USA Today opinion piece on July 20, 2021:
“But this PCA is also responsible for being on call for 33 other members of the Paralympic swim team. There are eight remaining visually impaired athletes competing on the swim team alone, yet not one person on the swim staff is specifically certified to work with blind or visually impaired athletes.”
The same day, Senator Margaret Wood Hassan of New Hampshire sent her fire-up to the USOPC President. The selected quotes from her press release are the following:
“I am writing today regarding disturbing reports detailing inequities that USA Paralympians are facing at this year’s Tokyo Paralympics.”
“In this particular case, the swim team has been reportedly given one personal care attendant for 33 athletes, including nine with low vision – far too many athletes for one personal care attendant to provide consistent communication and navigation support.”
“The Paralympic Games should set an example for the world – setting a level playing field that is only possible when athletes with disabilities receive the services and support that they need to be fully included and to compete.”
“I strongly urge the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee to work immediately to address this issue.”
“We must ensure that all of our athletes are able to compete safely at this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games – including by providing them with necessary accommodations.”
However, the USOPC did not change its mind.
Before her withdrawal, Meyers dreamed of getting Paralympic prize money from the USOPC Enhanced Operation Gold program — $6,250 for one gold medal, $5,000 for one silver, or $4,375 for one bronze — in the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo.
Instead, a six-time Paralympic medalist received a Governor’s Citation from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on July 26. After reading her USA Today opinion piece, Hogan recognized her “bravery for highlighting the issue of inequality and access for people with disabilities.
CSUSOP Action?
On August 4, 2021, Perkins School for the Blind (of Watertown, MA) posted the following on Facebook:
"Dear USOPC,
We are writing to you about Becca Meyers, a deaf-blind Paralympian swimmer. You did not allow her PCA to go with her to the Tokyo Paralympics. She felt that she would not be able to safely navigate her Paralympic experience, so she had to withdraw from the games. She felt terrible about it, but knew it was the right thing to do because she felt unsafe.
We are writing to you from Perkins School for the Blind. We are students with vision impairments. We use canes, magnifiers, and many other accessible tools to help us navigate our world. Without these tools, we wouldn’t be as successful. We wouldn’t be able to read, navigate, or feel safe.
The Americans with Disabilities Act says that people with disabilities should have appropriate accommodations and it was an important law for people like us. We do not feel that you were providing Becca with appropriate accommodations.
We believe that you should have allowed Becca to have a PCA that she knows and trusts.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
From,
A few Perkins School for the Blind students."
Andy Levy of the Baltimore-based Brown, Goldstein & Levy told Baltimore Sun, “In terms of the ability to file for an injunction in the U.S. to force the U.S. Olympic Committee to accommodate her so she can go, boy, I don’t know,” Levy paused. “You might have a very hard time getting a judge to order that kind of injunctive relief since I assume the USOC explanation is going to be, ‘This is out of our hands.’”
Levy pointed it out, “What’s an ‘undue burden?’ It’s so fact-intensive. … Even if a judge believed the U.S. Olympic Committee had dropped the ball, they may feel that it’s not within their power, that there’s sort of no injunction the court could issue that would change [the situation].”
Levy’s legal partner, Eve Hill, said, “Questions of jurisdiction are murkier because the Paralympics are in Tokyo but noted that when U.S.-based schools send students to study abroad, they’re still required to meet ADA standards.”
However, in her chapter “The Increasing Role of Disability Issues in U.S. Sports Law,” of a resourceful book titled “The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law (2017),” CSUSOP Co-Chair Dionne Koller wrote, “[The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990] prohibit discrimination and have been interpreted to provide individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in sports.” She paused, “An individual is disabled within the meaning of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. (Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12102(1).)
Now, we wonder if the CSUSOP will bring some recommendations relating to these two Acts mentioned above, such as the inclusion of the Deaflympics into the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.
“I urge for the insertion of the Deaflympics into the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and to USOPC's mandate and for the investment in Deaflympians. As Deaflympians, we are proud to wear the letters “U.S.A.” across our chests (pictured below), and today, we are calling on our country to have our backs. Nothing about us without us. Thank you for your time,” closed USADSF President Mansfield in the CSUSOP Hearing.
Howard “Howie” Gorrell attended 13 of the last 14 Deaflympics since 1969 and is a 2004 recipient of the USADSF Jerald M. Jordan Award, given to those who exhibit leadership and continuous participation toward the goals of the Deaflympics and the 2011 Art Kruger Award for demonstrating leadership and constant participation, support and contribution in the USADSF over an extended period.