PARIS: Students and even teachers would see Rowan Crothers languishing at the bottom of school stair cases, after a fall or a push, and ignore him. Security guards at bars see him walking abnormally and deny him entry, even after he tells them he has a disability. Officials at concerts refuse to let him into accessible seating, claiming he has no impairment and brushing him off.
Those are just some of the ways in which the 26-year-old swimming champion, who in Paris across this week and next is aiming to add to his two Paralympic gold medals, has been mistreated because his disability is “invisible”.
“I think all people can be good and I definitely believe Australia is an incredible country,” Crothers tells Wide World of Sports.
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“But I also believe there is a consistent lack of understanding for people with an ‘invisible’ disability.”
Among the roughly 4400 athletes competing in the French capital, some are missing an arm or a leg, some use a wheelchair, and some walk around with a cane.
But there are also many athletes whose disability, whether physical or intellectual, is not easy to recognise.
Rowan Crothers celebrates winning Paralympic gold at Tokyo 2020. Octavio Passos/Getty Images
Born 26 weeks premature and diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Crothers struggles with fine-minor skills and fatigue, particularly in his legs.
At the Paris La Defense Arena on Friday morning (AEST), the Brisbane athlete won bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle S10, and he’s now set to defend his Paralympic gold medal in the 100m freestyle S10.
His memories of his schooling days are appalling.
“I would hide in the toilets every day because I couldn’t stand the idea of being bullied for having really, really bad coordination and walking around, and that was a really, really difficult time for me,” he says.
“I’d get called a bunch of really disgusting names, I’d get pushed down the stairs. I remember one time I fell down a stair case and then I was ignored there, not just by students but teachers. Because my disability isn’t so obvious and so apparent, everyone around me in those moments would just call me clumsy or a bunch of words I really don’t feel comfortable saying.
Rowan Crothers goes berserk in Tokyo. Naomi Baker/Getty Images
“The social aspect was really difficult, and the physical bullying and abuse got so bad that I ended up choosing to hide in the toilets and skip class.
“It was a continuous lack of awareness and understanding of my disability, and kids would assume I’m not capable of doing anything and call me really, really horrible names, and I would feel so isolated.”
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The swimming speedster reflects on his schooling days with a remarkable point of view.
“I think it’s something I’m so glad I went through [the years of mistreatment] because now I have this perspective,” he says.
Rowan Crothers is an inspirational man. Paralympics Australia
“And in this position I’m in I think it’s so important to be a good role model, to be able to show these kids that they don’t need to hide like I did, they don’t need to feel ashamed of their disability, they don’t need to be afraid of how other people are going to treat them, because they can still contribute, they can still be a part of class and they can still potentially achieve really great things.
“Graduating from school for me was a major moment … I saw it as recognition that I went through these terrible things, and now I want to make sure that other kids with disabilities don’t have to feel so terrible or stressed about having to go to school every single day.”
Crothers and his family were told by doctors repeatedly throughout the first few years of his life that he wouldn’t be able to walk, and when he did learn how to walk, they were told he wouldn’t be able to live an independent life.
It would be an understatement to say he’s proven those doctors wrong.
Being an elite athlete, it’s not often that he laps up the night life, but he’s a social bloke with a zest for life and enjoys getting out when he can.
“If I want to go out one night and I want to have an orange juice or a glass of milk, then a lot of the time different bars will deny me entry because they see I have poor coordination in the legs, particularly in the evenings as time goes on,” Crothers says.
“People think, ‘Oh, Rowan looks totally fine so therefore he must be drunk because he’s not missing a leg’. I’ll try to say, ‘I have a disability’, and they say, ‘Ah, we’ve heard that one before’.
“In my own personal experiences with accessibility at concerts, I consistently get denied access to accessible seating because I don’t look like I have a disability … Despite the fact I might be able to present as very able, later on in the day my legs struggle so much with just being able to stand up and walk around, let alone after six hours of incredibly intense swimming training and gym training.”
Cerebral palsy is one of the most common disabilities among the some 4400 athletes in action in Paris.
Multiple sclerosis, vision impairment, epilepsy, acquired brain injury and autism are just of the other many disabilities that can be “invisible”.
“There is a consistent lack of understanding for people with an ‘invisible’ disability, just by the nature of it being invisible,” Crothers says.
“It’s definitely a problem but I believe everyone can work together to create a more inclusive society.”
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