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.
Hearing impairment 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 evolved into the modern
Deaflympics, governed by the CISS, which 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.
Intellectual disability Sports 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. In 1986, the
International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) was formed to support elite competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities. This was established in contrast to the more participative, "sport for all" approach of Special Olympics. For a time, athletes with intellectual disabilities were included in the Paralympic Games. After
a cheating scandal at the
2000 Summer Paralympics, where a number of athletes participating in intellectual disability events were revealed to not be disabled, INAS-FID athletes were banned from Paralympic competition, but the ban on intellectually disabled athletes has since been lifted.
Physical disability Organized sport for persons with physical disabilities existed as early as 1911, when the "Cripples Olympiad" was held in the U.S.A. One of the successful athletes was Walter William Francis, a Welshman, who won both the running and wrestling championships. Later, events often developed out of rehabilitation programs. Following the
Second World War, in response to the needs of large numbers of injured ex-service members and civilians, sport was introduced as a key part of rehabilitation. Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport. The pioneer of this approach was Sir
Ludwig Guttmann of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. In 1948, while the
Olympic Games were being held in London, he organized a sports competition for wheelchair athletes at Stoke Mandeville. This was the origin of the
Stoke Mandeville Games, from which evolved both the
IWAS World Games and the
Paralympic Games. The first official Paralympic Games, which were simultaneously the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games ('international' having been added when Dutch service personnel first took part in the Games in 1952), were held in Rome in 1960. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Paralympic Games were simultaneously the 13th, 17th and 21st international Stoke Mandeville Games. Sports for persons with physical disabilities began to be organized in the US in the late 1960s through
Disabled Sports USA. Disabled Sports USA was established in 1967 by disabled military veterans, including Jim Winthers, to help rehabilitate the injured soldiers returning from Vietnam and originally named the National Amputee Skiers Association. In 1970, Hal O'Leary founded the
National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) at Winter Park in Colorado. Today, NSCD has 19 certified instructors and more than 1,000 volunteers. Disabled Sports USA has become one of the largest national multi-sport, multi-disability organizations in the United States, serving more than 60,000 wounded warriors, youth and adults annually. In 1975, the Paralympic Games expanded to include those with limb amputations and visual impairments. Individuals with
cerebral palsy were allowed to compete beginning in 1980. Since 1988, the International Olympic Committee has chosen to validate Disabled Sports (physical disabilities) and incorporate it as a part of the Games: the staging of the Paralympic Games immediately follows the Olympic Games. This scheduling helps to foster greater interest in disabled sports. An investigation published on a Swiss website has shown that more and more International Sports Federations list disabled athletes than any other sportsmen or sportswomen. In 2006, the Extremity Games were formed for
people with limb loss or limb difference to compete in
extreme sports.
College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet, organized this event to give amputee athletes a venue to compete in this increasingly popular sports genre also referred to as
action sports. This annual event held in the summer in Orlando, includes competitions in skateboarding, wakeboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, surfing, moto-x and kayaking. Various organizations, such as Paradox Sports, have arisen to help empower and inspire disabled people through equipping and welcoming them into the extreme sports community. Also in 2006, The Federation de Internationale Powerchair Football Association and The
United States Power Soccer Association were formed to standardize the rules of play and promote one of the few competitive team sports for motorized wheelchair users —
powerchair football (or power soccer). In 2007, a group of athletes, coaches, volunteers, and parents based in
San Diego split from
Special Olympics Southern California to gain local control over disabled athletics programs. This group – SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes (S4EA) – serves people with developmental disabilities within the age range of five years old through adults. By combining people with and without disabilities, S4EA hopes that participating athletes will interact and form lasting bonds of friendship through shared sports and recreational activities in S4EA's served communities. Although the organization's focus is primarily
San Diego County, S4EA has grown from this base to satellite programs in
Ventura and
Temecula, California. Currently,
Paralympic sport is governed by the
International Paralympic Committee, in conjunction with a wide range of other international sport organizations. Today, there are many sport opportunities throughout the United States for injured service members, including cycling, shooting, wheelchair tennis and basketball, track and field, adapted water sports, and snow skiing. The
Army Wounded Warrior Program offers
sitting volleyball to injured service members, and some organizations also offer sport opportunities to family and friends of injured service members in addition to the members themselves. Two Paralympic-style
multi-sport events exist exclusively for wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and veterans: the
Warrior Games in the United States and the
Invictus Games which originated in the United Kingdom. ==Sports==