Ileana Rodriguez Is Helping LA28 Rethink Accessibility

Ileana Rodriguez LA28 Vice President of Paralympic Strategy and Relations.

(Photo courtesy of Tim Genske)

The erstwhile Paralympic swimmer, designer and accessibility advisor is bringing an athlete’s position to LA28, pinch a ngo to make the Paralympic Games an adjacent portion of the Los Angeles Olympic experience.

(This communicative based connected a Forbes exclusive question and reply pinch Ileana Rodriguez connected August 10, 2026. All quotes are taken straight from a transcript of the interview.)

When Ileana Rodriguez looks astatine the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, she does not spot a postulation of venues, proscription systems and title schedules.

She sees an opportunity to alteration the measurement the world thinks astir accessibility.

Rodriguez, a erstwhile Paralympic swimmer who competed astatine the London 2012 Paralympic Games, has spent overmuch of her life navigating the world from a different perspective. Born successful Matanzas, Cuba, she became paralyzed arsenic a teen aft doctors discovered she had an arteriovenous malformation, aliases AVM, of the spine. Today, Rodriguez is vice president of Paralympic Strategy and Relations for LA28, a domiciled that brings together three defining chapters of her life: athlete, designer and advocator for accessibility. That operation whitethorn beryllium peculiarly important arsenic Los Angeles prepares to big the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“For me, my occupation astatine LA28 is almost an hold of what I was doing arsenic a consultant,” Rodriguez said. “It benignant of is the cleanable operation of my profession arsenic an designer but besides arsenic an athlete.”

Her extremity is straightforward but ambitious: Make judge the Paralympic Games are not treated arsenic an afterthought.

From Cuba To The Paralympic Pool

Rodriguez's travel to Los Angeles began thousands of miles distant successful Cuba. She was 13 erstwhile she began losing spot successful her near leg. Initially, doctors struggled to find what was happening. Eventually, an evident tumor led physicians to execute surgery, but 3 days earlier the process Rodriguez stopped walking. The room revealed the existent problem: an AVM of the spine, a malformation involving veins wrong the spinal cord.

The curen required exertion that was not disposable successful Cuba.

“My information was very uncommon successful general, and successful Cuba location was nary curen for it,” Rodriguez recalled.

Her family initially traveled to Mexico truthful she could person curen and proceed being evaluated. Eventually, Rodriguez and her family immigrated to the United States, settling successful Florida. It took 3 years for the full family to beryllium reunited. In America, Rodriguez was capable to be precocious school—something she said would not person been imaginable nether the circumstances she faced successful Cuba.

She besides had thing other waiting for her: the water.

Swimming had been portion of Rodriguez's life since childhood. Growing up adjacent the formation successful Matanzas, her parents taught their children to aquatics astatine an early age. At seven, she joined a competitory swimming team. She concisely near swimming to prosecute ballet, studying creation for respective years. But aft her paralysis, swimming became thing overmuch much profound.

“When I stopped walking, that was the point that I knew I could still do,” Rodriguez said. “And that's why I felt truthful comfortable successful the water, because we each float.”

A Return To Competitive Swimming

That realization yet led her backmost into competitory swimming. Rodriguez developed techniques to compensate for the nonaccomplishment of powerfulness successful her legs, peculiarly successful breaststroke—a subject successful which the legs are traditionally basal to propulsion.

“My legs travel my movement, but they conscionable spell consecutive down me,” she explained. “So I worked for galore years pinch my coaches to really find that infinitesimal wherever I didn't person that overmuch powerfulness successful my changeable because my legs were not going, and past alteration the changeable a small spot from what the regular breaststroke looks like.”

She besides modified her breathing pattern.

The results were extraordinary.

Rodriguez competed astatine the 2012 Paralympic Games successful London, finishing seventh successful the 100-meter breaststroke. During her swimming career, she would besides clasp the American grounds successful the 200-meter breaststroke. But the excavation was only the beginning.

An Architect's View Of Accessibility

While competing astatine an elite level, Rodriguez was besides pursuing a profession successful architecture.

She earned bachelor's and master's degrees successful architecture from Florida International University, completing her master's grade successful 2011 while simultaneously preparing for world competition. Her information was profoundly personal. Rodriguez had spent years seeing buildings described arsenic accessible that did not needfully consciousness welcoming aliases functional to group pinch disabilities.

“I ever saw each these places accessible, but looking for illustration hospitals, honestly,” she said. “And I was like, really tin I make a quality successful that space?”

The reply was to go an designer herself. Rodriguez yet founded iDesign Access and worked arsenic an accessibility consultant, advising commercialized and different projects successful the Houston area. Her nonsubjective was not simply to make buildings comply pinch accessibility codes.

It was to make them work.

“Not only compliant pinch the code, but really buildings that were bully for the group that were going to usage it,” she said.

That favoritism is important. A building tin technically fulfill a regularisation and still beryllium difficult, uncomfortable aliases intimidating for personification pinch a disability. Rodriguez became peculiarly passionate astir residential projects, wherever accessibility tin find whether personification returning location aft an wounded tin really unrecorded independently.

“For me, that's a immense passion,” she said. “It's a infinitesimal erstwhile you person an wounded going backmost to your location and not emotion for illustration you tin unrecorded location is very shocking.”

Her architectural profession yet brought her into interaction pinch LA28.

LA28: A Different Approach

Before joining LA28 afloat time, Rodriguez consulted for the organization. Her activity included helping place venues and see really they could champion accommodate Paralympic sports. That process represented thing she had not seen successful the aforesaid measurement astatine erstwhile Games.

Traditionally, accessibility has been an important information for Olympic and Paralympic venues. But Rodriguez said LA28 began considering accessibility earlier successful the venue-selection process, including the narration betwixt peculiar Paralympic sports and the venues being considered.

“In the determination making of the venues themselves, is the first clip I person seen it, wherever the OCOG looked astatine those Olympic venues that were being picked, but besides looking astatine the Paralympic sports that they were going to spell successful it, besides pinch an accessibility lens added to it,” Rodriguez said.

The difference, she emphasized, is that accessibility was not thing being added later. It was portion of the readying process from the beginning. Now, arsenic vice president of Paralympic Strategy and Relations, Rodriguez is helping make judge that accuracy extends passim the organization. Her responsibilities see moving pinch teams crossed LA28 to guarantee the Paralympic Games are considered robustly and intentionally—not arsenic a secondary arena that happens aft the Olympics. That activity besides includes communicating the communicative of Paralympic athletes. And Rodriguez believes the first connection is very simple: See the jock first. Rodriguez wants audiences approaching LA28 to spot Paralympians arsenic athletes first.

“They're athletes pinch a disability, but the jock portion comes first,” she said.

The favoritism matters because the travel to a Paralympic Games requires the aforesaid basal committedness arsenic the travel to an Olympic Games. Training cycles. International competitions. Qualification. Travel. Sacrifice. Pressure.

“The effort that it takes for a Paralympian to make it to the Paralympic Games is arsenic large arsenic an Olympian to make it to the Olympic Games,” Rodriguez said.

That is portion of the taste alteration she hopes Los Angeles tin accelerate. The Paralympic Games should not simply beryllium accessible to audiences. They should beryllium embraced by them. For Rodriguez, 1 of the astir contiguous priorities is processing the benignant of fandom that surrounds the Olympics.

“I really would emotion for group to spot the Paralympic Games pinch the aforesaid level of excitement that we spot the Olympic Games,” she said.

That intends filling venues, creating anticipation and building a broader relationship betwixt Los Angeles and Paralympic sport. As tickets for the Paralympic Games statesman to participate the nationalist consciousness, Rodriguez sees an opportunity to move curiosity into enthusiasm.

The Olympics And Paralympics Become One

The broader ambition is reflected successful the measurement Rodriguez talks astir the narration betwixt the Olympics and Paralympics. The favoritism betwixt the 2 has historically been institutional, commercialized and cultural. But the modern Games progressively stress their connection. For LA28, Rodriguez believes the connection should beryllium moreover clearer.

“It's 1 Game, it is the LA28 Games,” she said.

That accuracy could go 1 of the astir important legacies of Los Angeles 2028. For Rodriguez, it is besides personal. Her life has taken her from a Cuban formation to an American swimming pool, from Paralympic title to an architecture studio, and now into the bosom of readying the world's largest sporting events.

Each section has prepared her for the next.

With Los Angeles preparing to invited the world successful 2028, Rodriguez's ngo is not simply to make the Games accessible. It is to thief build a Games successful which accessibility is portion of the creation from the beginning—and wherever Paralympic athletes person the recognition, excitement and respect that their performances demand. For Rodriguez, the extremity is yet bigger than a venue, a athletics aliases a azygous Games. It is astir fundamentally changing people’s perceptions.

And successful Los Angeles, she will person a world shape connected which to do it.