Trunnell owns an embroidery enterprise referred to as Roxifi Embroidery that appeals largely to the horse neighborhood and supplies her with an earnings. She makes blankets, saddle pads, ice boots, standing wraps, in addition to shirts and sweaters, “principally something I can hoop and get a needle by way of,” Trunnell says, as a result of “if you wish to play within the sandbox with the massive boys, then you definitely’re going to should pay.”
Carly Weilminster, senior director of sport communications and social media for the US Equestrian Federation (USEF), tells SELF that equestrian doesn’t have a nationwide group, so athletes aren’t paid stipends, however they’ll obtain funding and grants “based mostly on efficiency and expertise” to offset prices related to worldwide journey and competitions. The identical is true of Paralympians in different sports activities, who can apply for quite a lot of grants and funding that the USOPC and third-party organizations provide. However a few of those that spoke to SELF say these alternatives are restricted, not marketed nicely, and nonetheless aren’t sufficient to cowl their bills. (The USOPC, not like different nationwide Olympic and Paralympic committees, doesn’t obtain authorities monetary assist and is funded completely by donations from followers and sponsorships from industrial companions.)
Journey-related mishaps aren’t straightforward to get well from.
Attending to competitions as a disabled athlete additionally poses fairly huge monetary dangers. Brim says that just about each time she travels with a group, a minimum of one individual’s chair is misplaced or broken, regardless of providing airport employees detailed directions about methods to deal with the gear. “It’s an enormous bummer, and we need to see change round it as a result of it’s simply so uncalled for.”
Brian Siemann, 34, a three-time track-and-field Paralympian, agrees. He says that airport employees want higher coaching on methods to transport and retailer wheelchairs as a result of they’ll take 1000’s of {dollars} and several other months to switch. “A mobility machine must be in a totally completely different class of concern than somebody’s suitcase,” he tells SELF. When Siemann travels by way of airplane, he can field up his roughly $15,000 racing chair fairly nicely to keep away from injury, however he can’t do this along with his on a regular basis chair as a result of he wants it as quickly as he will get off a airplane. (Wheelchairs could be taken on planes in the event that they aren’t motorized and might slot in overhead bins or different designated areas contained in the cabin, but when they don’t match they’re positioned within the cargo portion of the airplane with checked baggage.)
Siemann’s on a regular basis chair prices about $7,000 as a result of it’s personalized to his physique, however his insurance coverage considers that “a luxurious,” that means it’s near unattainable to get it lined. So when an airport in Miami misplaced it and supplied $100 as an apology, it was a “jarring expertise,” to say the least, he says. “There’s at all times a better than possible probability that some a part of your mobility machine goes to be misplaced or broken, which then fully impairs and restricts your capability to get round safely,” Siemann says. “And it’s not a fast repair for anybody,” notably when sports activities gear is concerned.
Healthcare can get difficult and costly for athletes with disabilities.
It’s additionally more difficult—bodily, sure, but in addition financially—for lots of Paralympic athletes to maintain themselves wholesome in comparison with their Olympic friends. Some disabilities typically require common medical consideration and might make athletes extra weak to sicknesses or stress due to the traumatic occasions or underlying circumstances that trigger them—all of which might get costly, particularly in international locations just like the US that don’t have common well being care.
