ShardlowCR0607 - Disabled in sports

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Overview:

Disabled sports are sports for people with disabilities. There are many types for different people. There are sports for physically disabled

people as well as sports for people with intellectual disabilities. These sports are based on the needs of the individual. Some sports are adaptive for people with disabilities yet others have been specially created for disabled people. Many of these self created sports have no equivalent for able-bodied people.

History and Information:

Organized sports for disabled athlete are divided into three groups to accommodate all people with disabilities. the three groups are: The deaf, people with physical disabilities. and intellectual disabilities. Each of these groups have individual background with fantastic history, composition program and approach to the sport.
Official Deaf sport competition began in 1924 at the Paris Silent Games organized by the International Committee of Sports for the deaf (CISS). These first games later evolved into the

modern day Deaflympics which are governed by the CISS. The CISS organized and maintains separate games for the deaf athletes based on the numbers and the athletes special needs on the sports fields.

The beginning of organized sports for people with physical disabilities developed out of the World War II rehabilitation program. The sports were created because of the large number injures from the war. Organized sports became a very important part of their rehabilitation. These sports grew from the rehabilitation program into very competitive sports for the disabled. The pioneer of this great phenomena was Sir Ludwig Guttmann who was a member of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. During the London Olympic Games of 1948, Guttenn organized competitive sporting games for people

in wheelchairs at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. This was the start of the Stoke Mandeville Games which later became Paralympics. The Paralympics are run and monitored by the International Paralympic Committee as well as many other international sports organizations.
Competitive sports for people with intellectual disabilities first began as a result of the 1960’s Special Olympics Movement. The idea grew and grew and by 1962 there were a number of summer camps for people with intellectual disabilities to be able to play sports. These camps were organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The first International Special Olympics were held in 1968 in Chicago. Today the Special Olympic Program provides a great experience, training, and competition in a lot of different sports for many people with intellectual disabilities.
The International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) was formed in 1986. It was formed to support elite

competition for the athletes with Intellectual disabilities. This was established in relationship to the “sport for all” approach to the special olympics which was more participative. Before the INAS-FID athletes with intellectual disabilities participated in the Paralympics. However, after the cheating scandal of the 2000 Paralympic Games this changed. In many of the intellectual events of the 2000 games a lot of athletes were not actually disabled. INAS-FID athletes were banned from being able to participate in the Paralympics. Work is still going on to register these athletes into the games.