Jessica Heims: Paralympians grateful for golden opportunity after pandemic challenges

As I prepared for my second Paralympic Games, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of excitement and relief.

Every Team USA athlete has spent the past year-and-a-half worrying about the future of their career, and whether the Tokyo 2020 Games would ever become a reality.

Our hearts were broken last spring when the Games were postponed. We knew it was necessary for the health and safety of the world, but none of us knew how to pick up the pieces of our momentarily fractured careers.

Most of our professional athletes were left clueless as to whether they could even pay the bills without championship and sponsor money.

One logistical problem daunted the Paralympic community in a way that was specifically unique to disabled athletes: accessibility. Our able-bodied teammates may be able to run on roads and grassy fields to maintain fitness, but not every disability can accommodate that type of training.

Disabled athletes regularly face this problem, but our struggle was amplified even higher when almost every accessible facility was shut down to the public. We were supposed to be preparing for the most important competition of our life, yet most of us couldn’t even find a way to properly workout.

Last summer, I was asked whether I found it easy to adapt to the lack of accessibility, given the fact I regularly adapt my life as a disabled person. The question made me sit back and reflect on how much my disabled community disproportionately struggled to stay safe and live a ‘normal’ life through the height of COVID-19.

We have spent our lives trying to adapt to an inaccessible world, and our souls felt exhausted having to adapt once more. To answer the question simply: no, it was even harder.

Somehow, through mass cooperation and lots of encouragement, we made it to a new season. After more than a year of challenges, we can finally train and compete again. Many of us still struggle from the shared anxiety of uncertainty the whole world faced.

To sum up our thoughts going into this long-awaited Games, we feel grateful. We are grateful the Games can still occur. We are grateful for all who heard the voices of the disabled community and listened to our needs.

And we are grateful for everyone who did their part to keep the world safe.