Equality watchdog warns Kaunas marathon over wheelchair discrimination

The organisers of the Kaunas Marathon discriminated against wheelchair users by preventing them from registering for the race, Lithuania’s Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson has found, LRT reported on Wednesday. The office issued a warning to Kaunas Marathon Club.

The investigation began after the office received information that wheelchair users were barred from registering, although athletes using wheelchairs had been allowed to participate in the previous two years.

The Lithuanian Disabled Sports Federation repeatedly asked the organisers to allow wheelchair users to compete in at least one event and proposed several participation options. The requests were rejected.

According to the investigation, organisers offered one condition under which wheelchair users could take part: they would have to move slowly at the back of the field with an escort, rather than compete to complete the course as quickly as possible.

The federation also criticised comments by marathon organiser Gytis Šumskas, who questioned whether the Kaunas Marathon was the right place for people with disabilities to promote themselves. In an article published by the news portal 15min, he also complained that disabled participants moved ahead of other runners, finished first and attracted most of the media attention.

The organisation running the marathon told the office that the decision was prompted by reconstruction work on city streets along the routes. It said none of the routes this year was suitable or safe for wheelchair users and that the participation of disabled people caused disorder at the event. Šumskas said his comments had been taken out of context to create a scandal that benefited people with disabilities.

Equal Opportunities Ombudswoman Birutė Sabatauskaitė said the organisers’ aim of ensuring the safety of all participants was understandable, but could not infringe the rights of people with disabilities.

“In this case, this obligation was not fulfilled, because offering people the chance to participate in a sporting competition without competing for a result cannot be regarded as a suitable alternative,” Sabatauskaitė said in a statement.

She said the participation of people with disabilities in marathons was common practice in many European countries. To ensure the safety of all participants, disabled athletes usually start before other runners, she said.

The office recommended that Kaunas Marathon Club ensure that people with disabilities can participate by using routes with hard surfaces, scheduling starts so they can compete equally for sporting results and allowing assistance where significant obstacles to completing the course arise. It also recommended working with sports organisations representing people with disabilities.