Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have a non-disabled equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
The England Learning Disabilities (LD) team is one of eight disability squads supported by the Football Association. To qualify for the team, players must have an intellectual disability with an IQ equal to or below 70–75, as determined by the World Health Organization. The players must also have been in receipt of special education, employment and/or respite care between the ages of 0 and 18.
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. Certain able-bodied events are rarely contested as para-athletic events outside deaf sport; pole vault, triple jump, hammer and the three hurdling events. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
Lisa Christina Llorens, OAM(born 17 January 1978) is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She was born in Canberra. She specialises in Paralympic high jumping, long jumping, and sprinting, participating in competitions for athletes with autism.
Siobhan Bethany Paton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who was born in Sydney. Paton has had an intellectual disability from birth which was a consequence a lack of oxygen. Paton decided to become a swimmer after finding out she has a connective tissue disorder and that swimming would assist in the strengthening of her joints. Siobhan initially began competing with non-disabled athletes and only in 1997 did she compete in a competition for athletes with disabilities, where she won seven gold medals and one silver medal. As of 2004, she holds thirteen world records in her disability class of S14.
Virtus Sport is a federation which was established in 1986 by professionals in the Netherlands who were involved in sport and wanted to promote the participation of athletes with mental handicap in elite sports.
T20 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics in track and jump events. It broadly covers athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Disability sports classification is a system that allows for fair competition between people with different types of disabilities.
José Antonio Expósito Piñero is a Paralympic athlete from Spain.
Verona Marolin Elder MBE is a female British, Commonwealth and European medal winning English 400 metres runner and is now the manager of the British athletics team for people with learning disability.
Dionibel Rodríguez Rodríguez is a track and field athlete from Spain, who competes under the T20 classification due to an intellectual disability. He represents several athletic teams and is supported by the Carmen Pardo Valcarce Foundation. He has competed at the INAS World Games, INAS World Athletics Championships and the INAS World Indoor Athletics Championships.
Intellectual disability sport classification is a classification system used for disability sport that allows people with intellectual disabilities to fairly compete with and against other people with intellectual disabilities. Separate classification systems exist for the elite athlete with a disability side affiliated with the Paralympic movement and Virtus, and the sports for all model affiliated with Special Olympics. People with intellectual disabilities have issues with conceptual skills, social skills and practical skills. They have IQs of 75 points or lower, limitations in adaptive behaviour and their disability manifested and was documented prior to turning 18 years of age.
Cameroonian Federation of Sports the Intellectually Disabled (FECASDI) (French: Federation Camerounaise Des Sports Pour Deficients Intellectuals (Fecasdi)) is the national sports federation for sportspeople with intellectual disabilities competing in International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS) and Paralympic events. They organize national ID sports championships. The federation was recognized by law in 2010, and then became a member of the Cameroonian Paralympic Committee in 2011. FECASDI has tried to get its sportspeople qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics. They have also hosted several conferences.
ID sports in Cameroon are played in the country by people with intellectual disabilities. These sports are governed by Cameroonian Federation of Sports the Intellectually Disabled (FECASDI) and Special Olympics Cameroon. People with intellectual disabilities in Cameroon lack the same access to educational opportunities as people with other disability types in Cameroon. Development for sporting opportunities for them began in 1995, when Special Olympics came to Cameroon. Since then, other development activities have taken place, focusing on ID football and ID sport in general. Funding for ID sports is often limited.
Jean-Marie Aléokol Mabiemé is a Cameroonian political figure and disability sports administrator.
The INAS Global Games is a quadrennial global, international multi-sport event organised by the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS). First organised in 2004, it is intended for elite competition in disability sports for athletes with intellectual disability and, since 2017, autism and down syndrome. It is the largest sporting event of its type. Athletes must have received classification from INAS to compete.
INAS World Athletics Championships are a biennial international athletics competition hosted by the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability for athletes who have an intellectual impairment and compete in the T20 and F20 classes.
INAS World Swimming Championships are a quadrennial international swimming competition organised by International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability for athletes who have an intellectual impairment and swim in the S14 swimming category in Paralympic swimming.
Netherlands
England
Poland
Japan
Germany
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Brazil
Sweden
Argentina