The government should reduce the gap in funding for Paralympic athletes compared with Olympic athletes to promote equality and fairness for athletes with disabilities, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said yesterday
They made the comments at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan hosted by KMT legislative caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and other lawmakers.
Taiwan’s Paralympics program receives only a fraction of the resources of the nation’s Olympics program, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The Paralympics program has a training budget of NT$60 million (US$2.15 million) per month, while the bonus for an athlete who wins a gold medal is NT$4 million, compared with the Olympics program’s funding of NT$400 million and bonus of NT$20 million, he said.
The disparity is even greater for Paralympic coaches, who are paid 4 percent of their counterparts in the Olympic teams, he said.
The KMT proposes that the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例) be amended to include funding for the training of Paralympic athletes, he said.
The selection, training and career programs for Paralympic athletes should be reviewed comprehensively, while private and state-owned enterprises should take a larger role in funding Paralympic training programs, he said.
Paralympic athletes winning gold, silver or bronze should receive bonuses every month, as Olympians do, to show equal respect and treatment, he added.
KMT Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) said the Sports Industry Development Act should also apply to the Paralympics program.
Raising the bonuses for Paralympians would help combat discrimination against people with disabilities, she said.
If the Sports Administration cannot protect the rights of people with disabilities, then the Ministry of Health and Welfare should step in, KMT Legislator Yeh Yu-lan (葉毓蘭) said, citing the Disabilities Rights Protection Act (身心障礙者權益保障法).
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