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Swimmer Becca Meyers will not compete in the Paralympics.

Becca Meyers, a six-time gold medal swimmer in the Paralympics, was planning to compete in this year’s Paralympics in Tokyo as part of Team USA. However, as Meyers is both blind and deaf, she requires the assistance of a trusted Personal Care Assistant (PCA) in order to both compete and go about her life. Her mother is her usual choice of PCA, but due to the pandemic, the Paralympic committee wouldn’t permit her to bring her mother to the games, offering instead to provide a substitute PCA (though this substitute would also be aiding all 33 other Paralympian swimmers). Meyers did not feel comfortable competing without a PCA she knows and trusts, and as such, made a difficult call.

Meyers announced earlier this week that she would officially withdraw from Team USA and not compete in the Tokyo Paralympics. “I’m angry, I’m disappointed, but most of all, I’m sad to not be representing my country,” Meyers said in a statement shared on her Twitter.

Meyers explained that while she does understand the necessity of the restrictions, she simply cannot compete without her PCA. Previous experiences of traveling without a PCA she trusts, such as an instance during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics where she became lost while searching for the dining hall, have cemented in her a firm stance on this matter. While she tried to work with the committee to find a middle ground on the matter, Meyers said that they “talked right over me. They dismissed me. They said, ‘This is what we have; you’re going to have to deal with it.’”

Heartbroken to share that I’m withdrawing from the Tokyo Paralympic Games. The USOPC has repeatedly denied my reasonable and essential accommodation because of my disability, leaving me no choice. Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/p9tKsbPip2

— Becca Meyers (@becca_meyers) July 20, 2021

“So, in 2021, why as a disabled person am I still fighting for my rights?” Meyers asked in her statement. “I’m speaking up for future generations of Paralympic athletes in hope that they never have to experience the pain I’ve been through. Enough is enough.”