Patrick Flanagan: 'It's really hard to put into words, the feeling of seeing my wheelchair broken'

Swimmer Patrick Flanagan during a Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Team Announcement at Abbotstown in Dublin. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

An American journalist wouldn't be expected on a Team Ireland Paralympics press call but it's a mark of the impact made by Patrick Flanagan's story of his wheelchair being broken beyond use en route to Tokyo.

Media outlets from the BBC to Sky News to USA Today picked up on the Sligo-based swimmer's tweet about his custom-made wheelchair being "completely broken" in transit on arrival at London Heathrow, where he was given an oversized airport replacement which rendered basic tasks extremely tough.

It was a "crazy 48 hours", he says from his room in Narita, Japan, before the team moves into the athletes' village in Tokyo today. 

While the timing of the incident, on his way to a first Paralympics, was distressing, he considers himself lucky it all happened at a time when he was surrounded by coaches, teammates, and support staff. They could push him in the airport chair if needed and his family were able to dash to Dublin Airport that evening with an older chair, which a Paralympics Ireland staff member was able to fly over to London the next morning.

A study has estimated that 60% of wheelchair users have had their wheelchair damaged while flying. Flanagan's hope, now, is that the awareness raised sees these wheelchairs handled by airport staff with care befitting their life-sustaining role.

"It was tough to take because it's such an emotional time," he says. "Just the excitement, the happiness, and then to have something like that happen is so devastating. 

"It's really hard to put into words, the feeling of seeing my chair broken. My wheelchair is my independence," says Flanagan, and what best sums up how damaging the loss of a wheelchair can be is the process of having it replaced.

He has already looked into getting a fitting date for his next chair. Then, he'll usually have four or five meetings to try different brands of chairs before finding one that'll best suit his needs. 

They'll meet again for a sizing and again a few more weeks later for more minute adjustments.

Only after all that will the chair be sent away to be made before it arrives for a final test. 

"This whole process can take easily over six months," he says. "It's not a case of going down to the shop, trying it on, and picking it up the next day. It's half a year of your life where you're waiting for something. 

In normal times, you plan it for about two years (in advance) so being left in a situation where you have no chair, it's not a quick fix. It's a significant period of time that you're going to be left in a really tough situation.

"And that's only from my experience. I can't even imagine what it's like for someone who has a more severe disability and requires even more supports from their chair."

He hasn't heard back from the airport or airline since filling in a claim form at Heathrow, although the buzz around the Paralympics means he hasn't been checking his emails too often.

In America alone, more than 15,000 wheelchairs have been lost or damaged since 2018, when US airlines were required to report such numbers. That's roughly 29 a day, a number which would be much higher but for Covid.

So what needs to be done?

"It's more understanding that needs to happen, a bit more realisation that a wheelchair is irreplaceable. It really is completely upending for you. It's just so frustrating, it really shouldn't happen. 

"It isn't something that should be flung around the place. It needs to be handled with respect, that it's a life dependant piece of equipment. 

"My wheelchair is my independence and I can't sum it up any better than that. To other wheelchair users, (I'd say) don't let it deter you from travelling, from living your life. 

"Hopefully, as a community, we can send out this message that our wheelchairs are so important to us that they're not something that can be thrown around or be mishandled, and if they are we're more than willing to stand up for ourselves and send out the message that we're not happy with that treatment and it needs to change."

Flanagan is one of two Longford Swimming Club alumni who have made it to Toyko this summer, alongside Olympian Darragh Greene, while it was almost three but for Gerry Quinn being controversially omitted from the Irish relay team he helped to qualify due to a FINA rule.

While Skibbereen leads the way in rowing, perhaps Longford has something in the water too.

"It's absolutely massive. We're going to quite happily brag that we're probably the most successful swimming club in Ireland right now, Longford Swimming Club. It's fantastic," says Flanagan, who competes in the S6 400m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke.

"Myself and Darragh started swimming there when we were really young together. It's so great for the coaches and the kids to realise that going to an Olympic or Paralympic Games is something that's so achievable. 

"It takes a lot of hard work a lot of dedication but it's not some far-off dream, it's something you can do and Longford Swimming Club is a place that you can do it from.

"You'd almost want to do a study on Longford and figure out what we were doing so right about six or seven years ago that's reaping the benefits now."