Disability advocates calling for reform as US Paralympian Becca Meyers drops out of Games citing lack of support

iStock/Ryosei Watanabe

Disability advocates and elected officials are calling on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee to rethink its policies after a Paralympic gold medalist swimmer was denied a request to have a care assistant travel with her to Tokyo due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Becca Meyers’ ordeal also speaks to the larger issue of disability inequities amplified by the pandemic, advocates say.

Meyers, 26, who is blind and deaf, was set to compete at the Paralympics in Tokyo with the women’s swim team in August, and requested that her mother join her as her personal care assistant. Assistants are assigned to