diff --git a/lzstring/__init__.py b/lzstring/__init__.py
index cf91d62..16f1831 100644
--- a/lzstring/__init__.py
+++ b/lzstring/__init__.py
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ def decompressFromUTF16(compressed):
             return ""
         if compressed == "":
             return None
-        return _decompress(len(compressed), 16384, lambda index: compressed[index] - 32)
+        return _decompress(len(compressed), 16384, lambda index: ord(compressed[index]) - 32)
 
     @staticmethod
     def decompressFromBase64(compressed):