Craig Andrew Crowley MBE FRSA (born in 1964) is the 8th President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, served between 2009 and 2013. [1]
Crowley previously served as Trustee of Signature (Accredited Body for British Sign Language Levels) and National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf/Deafblind People (NRCPD).[ citation needed ]
Crowley worked as deputy director of Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID)Community & Care Support Services and also had a brief stint as executive director of European Union of the Deaf (EUD) in 2005.
Crowley is currently the Chief Executive of one of UK's leading Deaf-led Charity, Action Deafness.[ citation needed ]
As a Deaf child of hearing parents, he was brought up in Cramlington,Northumberland. Crowley went on to co-found National Leadership Training Programme for both Deaf and Hearing young people in Sport in the 1980s. From his time with Friends for Young Deaf (FYD) he went to Bulmershe College of Higher Education (now part of Reading University) He was elected president of the student union. Craig is the first-ever Deaf President of a Student Union in any higher educational establishment in the UK. Crowley was founder of National Network of Deaf Students in 1987 and was one of organisers of the first-ever European Deaf Students Conference at Reading University, in July 1988. Crowley represented and gained in Club and international honours at Football and was a Deaflympic silver medallist for GB Deaf Football Team at 1985 Los Angeles Deaflympics (formerly World Games for the Deaf). He also obtained teaching & coaching qualifications in Tennis, Cricket, Football and Mountaineering. He briefly coached England Deaf Football during the late 1990s.
Following the Rome 2001 Deaflympics, a number of Deaf organisations and National Deaf Sport Specific Organisations appointed Crowley as Chair of Deaf Sports Strategy Group in 2002.[ citation needed ] A year later, he and others decided to co-found UK Deaf Sport and was elected as first chair. [ citation needed ] Under his leadership between 2003 and 2009, UK Deaf Sport (UKDS) duly achieved in ICSD & EDSO memberships. He also oversaw two successful GB Deaflympic Teams in 2005 and 2009[ citation needed ].
Crowley is the first British citizen and Deaflympian to have been elected as President of the International Committee of Sport for the Deaf (ICSD) at the summer ICSD Congress, Taipei in 2009. [2] Crowley staged the Sofia Deaflympic Games in July 2013. Crowley was replaced as president by Dr Valery Rekhledev of Russia in 2013, despite securing legacy and agreement for Winter Deaflympics 2015 and Summer Deaflympics 2017. Through his leadership ICSD was formally commended by International Olympic Committee in September 2013.
Crowley also participated in the key MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement between World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and ICSD which was formally signed in July 2013. [3] Crowley set up think tank group called Efficere Sports International and remains advocating for Deaflympics to work alongside Paralympics as part of long term international strategy for Deaf athletes globally.
Crowley served his time as Chair of UK Council on Deafness advocating members' issues concerned with deafness and hearing loss at All Party Parliamentary Group level from 2016 until 2020. He was Trustee of Royal School for the Deaf Derby and was Honorary President of UK Deaf Sport from 2014 until 2022. Since November 2022 Craig has been the appointed Co-Chair of BSL Advisory Board with Disability Unit advising and recommending British Sign Language (BSL) Guidance at various Government levels under The British Sign Language Act 2022 Mandate.
Crowley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours for his services to Sport. [4] He has been elected a Fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (FRSA) in November 2016.[ citation needed ]
Crowley was given the Signature Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2018 for his dedication to lifetime career in raising the profile and visibility of Deaf issues and Sign Language.[ citation needed ]
Crowley was also featured in BSL Zone's "Life Stories" programme where he chronicled his journey from growing up in the North East to achieving the prestigious leadership role at Deaflympics [5]
The Deaflympics, also known as Deaflympiad are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athletes compete at an elite level. Unlike the athletes in other IOC-sanctioned events, athletes cannot be guided by sounds. The games have been organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds since the first event in 1924.
The British Deaf Association (BDA) is a deaf-led British charity that campaigns and advocates for deaf people who use British Sign Language.
Miha Zupan is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. He played among hearing players at the highest level in Europe, despite being deaf since birth. He is a 2.05 m power forward who can also play center when needed. He is the only deaf person to play in professional basketball league and in the EuroCup. Miha Zupan has competed at the Deaflympics on 5 occasions from 1997 to 2017.
The 2009 Summer Deaflympics, officially known as the 21st Summer Deaflympics was an international multi-sport event from 5 to 15 September 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan. It was the third Summer Deaflympics to be held in the Asia-Pacific region. Judo, karate, and taekwondo have been recognized as new summer disciplines in the Deaflympics sports competition program.
The Centre for Deaf Studies was a department of the University of Bristol, England, in the field of deaf studies, which it defines as the study of the "language, community and culture of Deaf people". Established in 1978, the Centre claimed to be the first higher educational Institute in Europe "to concentrate solely on research and education that aims to benefit the Deaf community". The centre was at the forefront in establishing the disciplines of deaf studies and deafhood. It used British Sign Language (BSL), had a policy of bilingual communication in BSL and English, and employed a majority of deaf teaching staff.
Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS) is the apex body organizing international sports events for the deaf, particularly the Deaflympics. It is also called the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf. The organization was founded in Paris by Eugène Rubens-Alcais, who organized the first "International Silent Games" in 1924. Alcais was himself deaf and was the president of the French Deaf Sports Federation.
Mark Griffin is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since 2011. He is married to Stephanie and has three children.
A number of deaf people have competed in the modern Olympic Games, with the earliest known being Oskar Wetzell, a Finnish diver who competed in the 1908 Olympics in London.
Bencie Woll FAAAS is an American–British linguist and scholar of sign language. She became the first professor of sign language in the United Kingdom when she was appointed Professor of Sign Language and Deaf Studies at City University, London in 1995. In 2005, she moved to University College London where she became Professor of Sign Language and Deaf Studies and Director of the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL).
Eugène Rubens-Alcais was a French deaf activist in the field of sports. He is known for introducing the Deaflympics in 1924 for deaf sportspeople. He was determined to establish international competitions for the deaf, as they were considered as intellectually disabled people during his lifetime. Alcais believed that deaf athletes should have their own independent international competitions and promoted the idea in his own deaf sports magazine called The Silent Sportsman. In 1924, he was instrumental in hosting the inaugural Summer Deaflympics in his home country, France. Alcais is also the founder of Comité International des Sports des Sourds, the world governing body of deaf sports. He is often called the "father of Deaflympics" or "father of Olympics for the deaf".
Antoine Dresse (1902-1998) was a Belgian deaf sport activist and the co-founder of the Comite International des Sports des Sourds, which is the world governing body of deaf sports. Antoine Dresse has also represented Belgium at the Deaflympics from 1924 to 1939. Dresse competed for Belgium in tennis and in the track events. Antoine served as the first founding secretary-general of the CISS from 1924 to 1967.
John Michael Lovett AM was a former Australian government administrator who made the breakthrough in the development of deaf sports in Australia. He was also the former President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, served as the 7th president from 1995-2003 until his death.
Valery Nikititch Rukhledev is a Russian sports activist. He is also a 6 time gold medalist in wrestling for the Soviet Union at the Deaflympics from 1969 to 1977. He served as the president of the Comite International des Sports des Sourds from 2013 to 2018. He retired from the position as President of ICSD on 31 July 2018 after being charged on embezzlement charges in a corruption scandal, in which he was accused of embezzling $803,800 from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf. He was later replaced by Australian Rebecca Adam as ICSD President on 1 August 2018 which created further controversy in the Deaf sports world.
The 2011 Winter Deaflympics officially known as the 17th Winter Deaflympics was originally scheduled to be held from 18 February 2011 to 26 February 2011 in Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia. This was the first time that Slovakia was selected to host a Deaflympic event. But the multi-sporting event was cancelled due to the lack of preparations, lack of readiness and reluctance by the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia prior to the event. The event was also cancelled mainly due to the alleged fraud by the former President of the Deaflympic Committee of Slovakia, Jaromir Ruda. The Winter Games was cancelled and was postponed to 2015, which was the 18th Winter Deaflympics.
Donalda Kay Ammons is an American educator and author. She served as a teacher at several deaf schools in the United States. Ammons was also the former President of the Comite International des Sports des Sourds (CISS) from 2003 to 2009.
Malaysian Deaf Sports Association also simply known as MSDeaf is the national governing body of deaf sports in Malaysia which was formed in 1993. It is also affiliated with the Comite International des Sports des Sourds since 1993. Despite its establishment in 1993, the sports council got recognition as the Deaf Sports Association of Malaysia from the government of Malaysia under the leadership of Najib Razak in 2018.
The 2019 Winter Deaflympics, officially known as the 19th Winter Deaflympics or XIX Winter Deaflympics, was the 19th edition of the Winter Deaflympics, and took place between the 12–21 December in Sondrio Province in Northern Italy. The opening ceremony was held in Sondrio on 12 December and curling competition began a day prior to the start of the Winter Deaflympics. Sporting events apart from curling commenced on 13 December.
Rebecca Adam is an Australian lawyer and business executive. She was President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) between 2018 and 2019, who also served as a former President of Deaf Sports Australia. On 1 August 2018, she was appointed as the 10th ICSD president replacing Valery Rukhledev who was found guilty of embezzlement from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf and was sacked from May 2018. The appointment of Rebecca Adam created further controversy among the deaf sports authorities which cautioned to sue against ICSD in International Olympic Committee. She became only the second woman after Donalda Ammons to be elected as President of International Committee of Sports for the Deaf.
Terence (Terry) Riley (1944-2019), PhD, OBE, was a British deaf rights activist and broadcaster. He was Deaf and a British Sign Language user.
The British Sign Language Act 2022 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which legally recognises British Sign Language (BSL) as a language of England, Scotland and Wales. It also requires the Secretary of State to publish reports each reporting period on how BSL is promoted or facilitated by certain government department. The first of these reports was published on 31 July 2023.