Ewan MacKenna: Treatment of Paralympians is frustrating

Brazil’s treatment of the Paralympics athletes is a depressing reminder of wider society’s disregard for disabled people’s rights

: Former soccer player Claudio Irineu da Silva carries the Paralympic torch at the start of the relay at Parque da Cidade Dona Sarah Kubitschek on Thursday Pic: Getty

For Liam Harbison, it wasn’t the way he expected to spend his first few days in Rio de Janeiro. The chief executive of Paralympics Ireland arrived with the preparatory group last Monday, was given the keys to the country’s quarters in the village, and then found himself scrubbing.

“We just got stuck in and made it acceptable before the team arrived,” he says. He used his spare time to find drivers that could ...