By: Amir Khan, Communications Assistant
Reborn.
Those are the words Maryam Salehizadeh describes feeling after arriving in Canada as a refugee from Iran in 2016. Her arrival introduced her to various challenges as a visually impaired individual, but Maryam says she felt an excitement that follows her into the present day.
“The experience is amazing to remember, to talk about, because everything was different with what I had back in my home country — like the nature or the culture, or the friendliness that was among people when they welcomed me at the airport.”
Maryam was determined to secure a future for herself as an athlete with 10 years of experience playing goalball for the Iranian national team. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for visually impaired players, three per side, in which a ball is thrown by hand at an opponent’s net to score points.
Introduced to the sport by her brother during her teenage years, Maryam went on to compete, eventually earning herself a spot in the provincial and national championships in Iran.
Maryam’s dream was to represent Canada as a Paralympian. In Vancouver, Maryam approached the Collingwood Neighbourhood House where local goalball practices were held. Upon stating her intentions to join the Canadian national team, Maryam found she needed to be a permanent resident to join national competitions.
“I was training with the Canadian national team since March 2017, but legally I wasn’t eligible to compete with them.”
While she waited, she continued to train until she received her permanent residency status.
For Maryam, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management and physical education from Tehran University, the sport was her lifeline, albeit with differences in language and culture.
However, her experience playing with the Iranian national team helped her compete for Canada on the world stage.
Maryam eventually represented Canada at the 2019 Parapan Am Games in Lima, Peru in which her team earned a bronze medal in goalball. She went on to secure a spot along with her team at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. In 2022, Maryam scored six goals at the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) Goalball World Championship in Portugal, which helped bring Canada to third place.
Upon reflection, she says there are still challenges she faces daily.
“As a newcomer, I have been facing lots of challenges, language barriers, access to local services, financial problems, housing, even shopping,” Maryam says. “Being visually impaired made everything way harder because I couldn’t communicate with people, I didn’t have any friends or family to help me.”
Maryam eventually found MOSAIC, and became a client registered in online discussion groups aimed at connecting newcomers with disabilities to services and programs designed to ease hardships.
In support of the City of Vancouver’s accessibility strategy, MOSAIC’s newly launched Accessibility for Newcomers program aims to provide a network of accessibility and settlement service providers with one-on-one assistance.
Maryam is currently taking computer courses at Vancouver Community College and wishes to pursue a diploma in settlement work. After arriving in Canada alone, she says her impairment forced her to become more persistent in achieving her goals.
“My goal has been to prove to first of all myself, and then people around me in society, my friends, my country, the whole world, that disability is not an inability. As humans we have the power to do whatever we want, to change, to grow every day.”
Maryam continues to practice goalball and aims to represent Canada in the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
For more information on MOSAIC’s Accessibility for Newcomers program, click on the link: Accessibility for Newcomers program.
