AY Honors/Paralympic Sports/Answer Key

Paralympic Sports

Skill Level

1

Year

2012

Version

29.12.2025

Approval authority

South American Division

1

What are Adaptive Sports?

Adapted sports are competitive sports for individuals with disabilities. While the adapted sports often parallel existing sports played by able-bodied athletes, there may be some modifications in the equipment and rules to meet the needs of the participants.[www.achievementcenters.org/adapted-sports.html Source]

Disabled sports also adaptive sports or parasports, are sports played by persons with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. As many disabled sports are based on existing able bodied sports, modified to meet the needs of persons with a disability, they are sometimes referred to as adapted sports. However, not all disabled sports are adapted; several sports that have been specifically created for persons with a disability have no equivalent in able-bodied sports. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. (Wikipedia: Paralympic Sports)

Organized sport for persons with physical disabilities existed as early as 1911, when the "Cripples Olympiad" was held in the U.S.A. Significant development of adapted sports followed WWII as the USA, UK and other countries struggled to rehabilitate war wounded. Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport. Disabled Sports USA (originally named the National Amputee Skiers Association) was established in 1967 by disabled military veterans to help rehabilitate the injured solders returning from Vietnam.

Sport for persons with intellectual disabilities began to be organized in the 1960s through the Special Olympics movement. This grew out of a series of summer camps organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, beginning in 1962. In 1968 the first international Special Olympics were held, in Chicago. Today, Special Olympics provides training and competition in a variety of sports for persons with intellectual disabilities.

Formal international competition in deaf sport began with the 1924 Paris Silent Games, organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds, CISS (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf). These games eventually became the modern Deaflympics, governed by the CISS. The CISS maintains separate games for deaf athletes based on their numbers, their special communication needs on the sports field, and the social interaction that is a vital part of sports.

"Unified sports" involve teams made up of athletes with and without disabilities.[18] Since the 1990s, Special Olympics Unified Sports have been promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition. This initiative has expanded globally and now involves more than 700,000 players in 127 countries worldwide. The principle behind Unified Sports is simple: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.

2

Learn how becoming involved in disabled sports helps in the development and/or rehabilitation of people with disabilities.

Sports and physical activity benefits the disabled in the same ways it benefits the able bodied - better muscle tone, better respiration, increased energy, and overall increased health. Being active can fight depression and brighten modes. A sense of achievement can be gained from sports, both from winning and simply improving skills over time. Sports and recreation are an excellent way to make new friends and build closer bonds to other people.

Many disabled experience increased frustration because their lives include extra challenges, they face employment and other forms of discrimination, and they can feel like "losers" in general. Therefore being able to do sports like other people can, perhaps even better then those around them, can provide tremendous encouragement.

For rehabilitation, remember that many adaptive sports originated out of efforts to rehabilitate wounded solders. Essentially sports act as a form of physical therapy, getting injured people and amputees back into life and physically active again after what is often extended time in hospital.

3

What is important about participating in sports for people with disabilities?

Everyone should have the opportunities to learn sport skills and become active for life, whether they choose to pursue competition or strictly recreational sports. We can all benefit from increased physical activity and the opportunity for achievement. Persons with disabilities deserve to have access to quality sport and physical activity programs just like everyone else but they experience different opportunities and challenges when pursuing sport and physical activity.

The disabled make up a significant part of the world population, even in highly developed countries with excellent medical systems. For example, approximately 14% of Canadians have a sensory, intellectual or physical disability according to Stats Canada.

According to CS4L "almost all of the principles behind Canada’s model for able-bodied athletes are applicable to athletes with disabilities but athletes, coaches, parents, administrators, and health professionals need to consider additional factors in the delivery of sport and physical activity so that athletes with disabilities can follow a high-performance pathway or simply maintain an active, healthy lifestyle." Source

4

Name at least ten types of Adaptive Sports.

Organized sport for athletes with a disability is generally divided into three broad disability groups: the deaf, people with physical disabilities, and people with intellectual disabilities. Each group has a distinct history, organization, competition program, and approach to sport necessitated by the respective disabilities.

Types of Adaptive Sports Include:

Snowsports– Skiing, Snowboarding, Sledding

Adaptations include special mono-skis

Watersports– SCUBA diving, Free diving, Swimming

Water can allow a mobility disabled person much greater freedom to move. “I love Scuba diving because there is no rush, no competition, no limitations. On the surface I’m limited to my chair and every daily task takes awhile, but in the ocean I am free to move at my own pace, in any direction I want, without limitations.” – Dave Hosick, C7 quadriplegic Dive Master - [1]

Racing– Road Hand-cycling, Mountain Biking, Running, Triathlon

Adaptions are often an extension of the individual’s natural way of mobility, be it a wheelchair or prosthetic leg(s)

On the Water Sports– Surfing, Sailing, Kayaking, Rowing, Rafting

Outdoor Sports– Climbing, Camping, Fishing, Hunting, Shooting, Archery

Recreational Sports– Golf, Tennis, Equestrian, Curling

Wheelchair curling is an example.

Competitive Sports– Soccer, Rugby, wrestling, Basketball, Hockey, Football, Fencing

Wheelchair versions of all these sports are played. A blind football event was held in Cameroon in 2015. Ice sledge hockey in a Paralmpic sport.

Sourced partly from https://www.makeahero.org/

See all Paralympic Games sports listed here with links to details including videos: http://www.paralympic.org/sports

5

Name at least two international competitions for Adaptive Sports. Present the history of at least one of them.

• The Deaflympics are hosted somewhere in the world on odd years, alternating between Summer and Winter games. [2]
• Deaf World Championships are occasionally hosted in various sports [3]
• Special Olympics World Games, which alternate between summer and winter games held every two years. The most recent World Summer Games were the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in Los Angeles, California (The largest event in LA since the 1984 Olympic Games), from July 25, 2015 to August 2, 2015 and for the first time were covered by ESPN. Graz and Schladming, Austria will host the next Special Olympics World Winter Games from March 14–25, 2017.
• Paralympic Games which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, have been held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games.

6

Interview a person with a physical disability and ask him/her if he/she practices any kind of sport.

Prepare your questions, be respectful and thank the person for their time. This Requirement might be conveniently met while doing Requirement 7.

7

Visit an institution that works with disabled sports and find out:

7a

The vision and mission of the institution

7b

How many people are benefiting from this work

7c

What are the biggest challenges

7d

How their program encourages the practice of sports

8

Attend a team sport event done by people with disabilities and report this experience.

Field Trip time! We can't provide list of every possible place in the world to visit that works with disabled or adaptive sports, but here are some organizations that may be able to help. Look into their local and regional affiliates for an organization or event close to you.

• www.ipc-alpineskiing.org
• www.ipc-athletics.paralympic.org
• www.ipc-icesledgehockey.org
• www.ipc-nordicskiing.org
• www.ipc-powerlifting.org
• www.ipc-shooting.org
• www.ipc-swimming.org
• www.ipc-wheelchairdancesport.org
• http://www.paralympic.org/events (lists upcoming events worldwide)
• http://www.disabledsportsusa.org/ check events and local chapters
• http://canadiansportforlife.ca/athletes-disabilities
• https://www.makeahero.org/adaptive-sports/find-a-group/
• http://www.wasusa.org/
• http://www.iahd.org/

Search for "disabled sports" or "adaptive sports" and your city name for local examples.

9

Discuss or share what you would you do if a Pathfinder with disabilities entered your club and wished to participate in some sports with your unit.

Discuss different types of disabilities while you do this. Can a disabled person bring richness to the club? Might a blind person actually be better at some Arts and Crafts honors or knot tying? What accommodations would you need to make for a Pathfinder in a wheel chair? The type of accommodation will depend on both the sport or other activity and the Pathfinder's abilities.

The main author of these answers is part of a club with a mentally challenged Pathfinder. We accommodate him by assigning other Pathfinders and staff to monitor him and cut him slack in marching etc. We put someone else with him to do a speaking part in church so he felt included, while the boy did hand actions. We award Adventurer Awards where possible to him that match the honors we do as a club, so he has badges on his sash that reflect his ability to master material.

10

Research five Paralympic Games. Submit a 500-word essay or 5-minute oral report about the history and the importance of that event to people with physical disabilities in society and the promotion of sports.

References