Don't Cheapen Accessibility. Make it Mainstream

In the final days of the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto and surrounding area, organizers began selling tickets for $5, with the hopes of selling out the stands. While the effort was laudable in its aims, it is indicative of a wider misconception related to accessibility and its implementation – that if it is made easy, everyone will adopt it.

According to the Toronto Star, with three days left to go in the games, organizers reported that well under half of the available tickets had been sold.

In my opinion, the ticket price decrease was the wrong solution to the problem of poor attendance at Parapan events. Of all the complaints raised about both the Para Pan and Pan Am games this summer, cost of tickets wasn't one I heard very often.

I also know that, though coverage of Parapan was better than it has ever been and Paralympic coverage more generally is gaining public support, neither receives the same amount of air time as mainstream sporting competitions.

I would venture to guess therefore that poor attendance at events was more due to a lack of public awareness and knowledge rather than a concern over ticket prices. Suggesting that cheap tickets would magically bring spectators to sports they didn't know existed played by athletes with greater skill levels than they could imagine given their disabilities is unlikely at best.

What is more concerning is the attitude this implies about persons with disabilities and accessibility more generally.

The suggestion that persons with disabilities will be supported so long as it's made as easy as possible for everyone else is troubling. It's also highly unrealistic. As it is, creating buildings, websites and customer service policies isn't always difficult (provided there is no retrofitting) and it still isn't being done.

It's only a change in societal attitude that makes including all a priority that will bring accessibility into the mainstream. No amount of "it's easy, you should try it" messages will convince someone it's worth it who wasn't already convinced.

Until the mainstream truly embraces inclusion as a norm rather than an extra, little will change.