KARJALAINEN Katja

Classification
GRADE I (FEI, 17 Aug 2021)

Type of Impairment
Vision impairment (katjakarjalainen.com, 06 Mar 2021; plaza.fi, 03 Aug 2008)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (katjakarjalainen.com, 06 Mar 2021; plaza.fi, 03 Aug 2008)

Impairment Details
In February 1988, while working as a graduate nurse in Helsinki, Finland, she was diagnosed with generalised vasculitis of the brain and eyes. "I couldn't move much, my speech was clouded, and I couldn't see normally. The disease left its mark on me: stiffness, coordination difficulties, difficulty in movement control and balance are the neurological symptoms. In addition, I have muscle weakness and loss as well as eye changes that have been diagnosed as a 100% visual impairment. My right eye has been removed and my left eye has a really small field of vision and poor vision due to fundus changes." (katjakarjalainen.com, 06 Mar 2021)

General
EARLY YEARS
As a young child she was initially told that she was too tall for pony riding, but she persevered and spent much of her childhood horse riding. "At the age of nine, I burned with a desire to get into beginners riding courses. However, when I registered for the courses in the saddle room of the riding school, I was told that I was too tall on the pony's back. After seeing my disappointment, they told me about a horse beginner course that would start a month later. I was happy to wait for it. That's how my childhood went - mostly at the stables. Whatever the weather, I travelled by bus, cycled and sometimes even walked a good 10km from our home in Lauttasaari to Espoo for a ride. I learned a lot about horses and the knowledge about horses shared by experienced horse people. I loved that time." (katjakarjalainen.com, 06 Mar 2021)

FUNDING ISSUES
In 2021 she said she had struggled to fund her Paralympic campaign ahead of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, despite receiving a 20,000 euro grant from Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture for the year. "I have been competing internationally since 2006, but it's really starting to get tight. In the age of COVID-19, the basic expenses alone were more than 40,000 euros, because an ageing horse often needs body care in addition to accurate basic care. [For Finnish] Olympians, the additional costs brought by COVID-19 were taken into account, but for Paralympians, they were not." (maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi, 15 May 2021)

TOOPE'S RETIREMENT
After the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, she intends to retire her horse Toope. "After that, there will be no more competitions for Toope. After Tokyo he has earned his pension. " (maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi, 15 May 2021)

OCCUPATION
She works two days a week as a nurse specialising in anaesthesia and intensive care. She is also a habitat planner for social and health technology studies, and she studies music therapy through the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. (katjakarjalainen.com, 06 Mar 2021)