A Tipperary paralympian says he was bitterly disappointed at the cancellation of this year’s Paralympics.
Peter Ryan was planning in to retire as a para-cyclist after this summer’s competition.
Speaking to Tipp FM he said that’s all been thrown up in the air:
“The olympics was huge for me. I was planning on retiring after this summer. It’s been kicked down the road.
“I can’t even train because there’s no such thing as social distancing on a tandem. We’ve been given a directive by Sports Ireland for the foreseeable, there’ll be no tandem interaction with people.
“Sport is a huge part of my life. Thankfully, it’s not my identity and I can put it to one side. I’m only using sport now to keep a good morning routine.”
Peter is also a Tipperary County Councillor.
The Thurles representative says he feels that the COVID-19 lockdown has actually levelled the playing field somewhat between people with disabilities and those without.
He’s told Tipp FM it’s something he’s been thinking about for the last few weeks and he’s noticed it in a variety of areas:
“And it’s the little things – it’s the independence around travel. There’s certain challenges around even the likes of the supermarkets constantly changing, be it the way shelves are stacked or whatever.
“I’m a complete creature of habit, and that sounds something small but when you go to a certain area and you get flustered and you don’t know where something is or whatever – it brings back that piece where you have to say, ‘sorry, do you mind giving me a hand? I’m visually impaired.’
“That was the one thing I found. I’m not speaking for everyone who has a disability, but I think it has levelled the playing field.”
