To enrich life for people with disabilities is a great
mission.
Disability sports, dominated by Deaflympics, Paralympics and
Special Olympics, deserve admiration for its distinct history. It needed sheer
vision to organise the unprecedented competitions for athletes with
disabilities. The pioneers, who had the foresight deserve praise.
The
International Silent Games, held in Paris, France, in 1924, were the first
recorded games for any group of people with disabilities. The games over, the
deaf sporting leaders assembled at a café and established Le Comite
International des Sports Silencieux, which in French means the International
Committee of Silent Sports (CISS).
The CISS was later renamed Le Comite
Internationa des Sports des Sourds or the International Committee of Sports for
the Deaf (ICSD). In 1955, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognised
the ICSD.
The ICSD, the international governing body of sports for the
deaf and hard of hearing athletes, is now situated in Fredrick, Maryland, USA.
The ICSD organises Summer and Winter Deaflympics, and Regional Championships.
Deaflympics means the Deaf Olympics Games, which were previously known as the
World Games for the Deaf and the International Games for the Deaf. Now, 96
national deaf sports federations are affiliated to the ICSD.
The
Deaflympics are held every four years like the Olympic Games. No Deaflympics
were held between 1940 and 1948 due to World War II (1939-1945). Just like
Olympiad, each Deafolympics is designated by Roman numerals.
The ICSD's
four Regional Confederations are the European Deaf Sports Organisation (EDSO),
the Asia Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation (APDSC), the Confederation of African
Deaf Sports (CADS) and the Pan American Deaf Sports Organisation
(PANAMDES).
The EDSO consists of 41 countries, the APDSC represents 28
countries including Bangladesh and the CADS -- 19 countries and the PANAMDES --
12 countries.
In 2004, the Deaf Cricket International Federation (DCIF)
was established. The deaf cricket nations are Australia, Bangladesh, England,
India, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and
Zimbabwe.
To qualify in deaf sports, athletes must have a hearing loss
of 55 Decibels (DB) or greater in their better ear. No hearing aid or cochlear
implants are permitted during competition. In deaf games the football referees
wave flags instead of blowing whistle and on the track, races are started by
using a light flash (strobe light), instead of starter pistol.
In 1948,
Sir Ludwig Guttmann (1899-1980) organised a sports competition for wheelchair
athletes in Stoke Mandeville, England, when the Olympic Games were being held in
London. In 1952, the competitors from the Netherlands joined the competition
with the British. It gave birth to the idea of Paralympic Games.
In 1960
Rome hosted the first Paralympic Games, the multi-sport events, designated for
athletes with physical and visual disabilities including amputations, blindness
and cerebral palsy. Based in Bonn, Germany, the International Paralympic
Committee (IPC), the governing body of the Global Paralympic Movement, organises
both Summer and Winter Paralympic Games every four years following the Olympic
Games.
The Paralympic Games are the world's second largest sporting event
after the Olympic Games. "Spirit in Motion" is the motto of Paralympics. An
agreement signed between the IOC and the IPC in 2001 stipulates that from 2012
the host cities would be contacted to organise the Olympic Games as well as the
Paralympic Games.
In 1960, the idea of sports for the athletes with
intellectual disabilities (below-average cognitive abilities) was conceived by
the Special Olympics Movement. In 1968, the first International Special Olympics
were held in Chicago. Since then, the Special Olympics are held every two years
altering between Summer and Winter Games. Special Olympics provide training in
various sports for the athletes of intellectual disabilities.
In 1988,
the IOC recognised the Special Olympics. Now the Home of Special Olympics is
situated in Washington, DC.
Non-disability community may ask, why
athletes with disabilities do not compete together within one Olympics? It is
indeed a complex question. An analysis of the facts of three disability sports,
would enable the skeptics to comprehend the differences.
First of all,
athletes with hearing disability do not want to compte in the Special Olympics
events because Special Olympics are for the athletes with mentally disabilities.
Besides, Special Olympics a private organisation, and not a part of IPC. The
ICSD motto of "Equal through Sports," disaffiliated it from the IPC for unequal
standards.
In 1985, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the 7th President of IOC
(1980-2001) requested ICSD to join the IPC to form a single organisation of
sports for the athletes with disabilities. In 1986, ICSD joined the IPC on the
guarantee that it would enjoy autonomy for its own Games.
In 1990, the
problems were raised and ICSD lost its autonomy. They were forced to form a
single national sports organisation. The deaf were told to participate in the
Paralympic Games, not in the Deaf Games.
Finally, the IOC gave ICSD the
option to leave IPC, if they wanted to. And IOC continues to recognise them and
their Deaf Games. Soon, the delegates of ICSD voted and withdrew from the IPC.
The events of Paralympic Games are adapted, classified. Under six
disability categories of amputee, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy,
wheelchair, visually impaired and les autres (the others). Athletes with a
physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other five
categories are categorised les au tres, French words for "the others", to
include dwarism, multiple sclerosis or congenital deformity of linbs caused by
thalidomide. Depending on different skills required to perform the sports, the
classification system differs from sport to sport. For example, swimming has 10
classifications. Intellectual disability has, of late, been suspended from the
Paralympic Games. But the 1996 Paralympic Games included athletes with some of
the mental disabilities.
The Olympic Games for the able-bodied does not
deny access to the disabled athletes. Depending on performance and qualification
physically able-bodied deaf athletes can compete without significant
restrictions, with athletes without disabilities. But communication barrier can
affect their performance. It makes them a cultural minority in the community for
their inability to communicate.
The competition between able-bodied and
disabled athletes is not new. Many disabled athletes around the globe competed
with the able- bodied.
Natalie du Toit, the South African swimmer and
the first disabled Olympian, fought very well in the Women's 10,000m open water
marathon swimming and secured 16th place among 24 swimmers in the 2008 Beijing
Olympics. With her left leg, amputated below the knee, Natalie's performance was
better than a gold medal.
In India, Anjan Bhattacharjee, a deaf bowler,
played a dozen Ranji Trophy cricket matches with able bodied dayers in the early
1970s. He won the prestigious national Arjuna Award for sports.
With
deafness the writer of this article also played cricket with the able-bodied. He
played in the 2nd, 6th and 8th Bangladesh National Cricket Tournaments for
Mymensingh District Team runners-up in the 6th National Cricket "B" Zone
Championship.
In 1981-82, he secured the 9th place for batting average
among top 30 top batsmen of Bangladesh playing for Lalmatia Cricket Club in the
First Division Metropolis Cricket League of Dhaka. He participated in the 1st
Bangladesh National Athletic Competition for Mymensingh District Team in shot
put and javelin throw. He was champion twice in the Annual Athletics Meet of
Ananda Mohan University College, Mymensingh. He was also in the Mymensingh
District Football Team which became runners-up in the First National Youth
Soccer Championship of Bangladesh.
Published Financial Express January 8, 2010
