Viewpoint

Amy Aslop

Is it difficult to be a disabled athlete in Canada?

For me now, I can say there are a lot of trailblazers that have opened a lot of doors for me, and it's made a whole lot more equitable system in Canada.

Our Canadian government, per athlete, funds olympic athletes and paralympic athletes dollar for dollar. And that has been a tremendous boost to the paralympic movement over the last approximately five years.

And living in Saskatoon, where there aren't a whole lot of olympic athletes, the paralympic athletes are treated very, very well, and I've been very fortunate to have surrounded myself with people that look at me as an athlete, and look past my disability. And for that, I couldn't be happier.

Amy Aslop is a paralympic athlete.

Interview conducted in March 2005