TOKYO: The 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games offered Japanese people with disabilities a glimpse of an inclusive world, with one athlete saying that the event “opened a window in life.”

Hideo Kondo, 86, a board member of a nonprofit organization of Aki, Kochi Prefecture, western Japan, was 16 when he was injured in an accident at a coal mine, leading him to live in a wheelchair at a facility in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

Kondo, who took up Japanese archery at the facility, was invited to compete in the 1964 Games’ archery event by Yutaka Nakamura, who is considered the father of Japan’s sports movement for disabled people.

Kondo used a station wagon and an airplane to travel to Tokyo for the event, but he could not use a wheelchair in them.

“I had to be picked up and carried,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t like it.”

Although Kondo struggled at the competition, he found pleasant surprises at the athletes village.

There were buses, ramps and toilets he could use while in a wheelchair. Kondo thought he would be able to live outside his facility if similar measures were taken widely in society.

Akiko Gono, president of interpreter dispatch company Bilingual Group Ltd., was a member of a volunteer group offering interpretation at the Paralympics.

“I first thought that I shouldn’t look at people with disabilities, as staring would be rude to them,” said Gono, 78.

But her mindset changed as she worked as an interpreter at an interaction space for those staying at the athletes village and saw foreign athletes enjoying conversations and songs.

“Everyone was confident about themselves,” she said. “There is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Kondo, who said “the Paralympics opened a new window in life,” later became a city official in Machida, Tokyo, and worked to make buildings accessible to all.

Gono remains involved with para sports, taking on interpreting work for wheelchair basketball tournaments.

The upcoming Tokyo Games will be the first time in 57 years for the Paralympics to be held in Japan. Although much has changed for people with disabilities, challenges for achieving an inclusive society still remain.

“I hope that people think of disabilities not as something negative, and that we are capable of high forms of expression,” Kondo said.

JIJI Press