This morning a CHV team arrived at a Maipú metro station to take the pulse of how passers-by were dealing with the low temperatures when journalist Gino Costa met the national Paralympic athlete, Jeanette Sandoval.
The woman was on her way to the training center when she said that she competes for the national boccia team: “It’s like bowling, but it has special balls and it has the methodology that it is played with a ramp and hands-free,” she began by telling about the sport.
“There is a team that is playing with 12 people. It is not known because at the national level this is not shown much,” added the athlete.
But a powerful story resurfaced when the journalist asked him about accessibility on the subway: “Sometimes I have to take the bus and make a combination (…) Do you remember a person who sued the State for the elevator?“He asked him.
“When there was a terrorist attack and they took out everyone except one person with a disability, that person was me”he said, prompting immediate reactions of surprise in the CHV studio.
To which he added: “From there I have seen a change in the subway, but many times it is not seen”. After that, he recalled the attack that occurred in 2016.
“There was an explosive bomb in the Irrarazabal metro. They took out everyone except me. I took it as a joke, but at first it was difficult because I was there for an hour, I was going to the high performance center at the national stadium.“, he said.
Regarding the reason why she was not evacuated with the other people, the Paralympic athlete said that it was because at that time “there were no elevators (but rather) these old elevators that moved along the wall.”
Because of this, Jeanette remained locked in place for an hour until a train driver moved her and she got off at another station secretly.
Regarding the lawsuit, which he said he won against the State through the Supreme Court, it corresponds to the event that occurred eight years ago.
The Paralympic athlete used the Santiago Bueras station every day to then take a bus and go to the CAR (High Performance Center), however, that morning at the Santa Isabel station, the metro suddenly braked and informed the passengers that they had to evacuate. for security reasons.
In view of this, the woman approached to request help accompanied by a train driver, but they found that the stairlift was out of operation, so she had to stay inside the station for at least an hour.
At that time, Jeannete filed a lawsuit for discrimination under the Zamudio Law, where she ended up winning and it was determined that the Metro “incurred an act of arbitrary discrimination with respect to Mrs. Jeannette Lucía Sandoval, due to her disability”.
The company had to pay a fine of one million pesos, in addition to taking measures so that these cases are not repeated.
