The Circle is Broken

By Helga Rempel

Who should compete at the Paralympics? Who personifies the Paralympic athlete? What direction should the Paralympic movement be taking? How will these changes affect athletes already competing at the Paralympics?

These were just a few questions asked this summer at the 1994 Athletics World Championships in Berlin. This was the first year that events for athletes with intellectual disabilities were included at a Paralympic event. The International Sports Federation for Persons with a Mental Handicap (INAS-FMH) made a successful bid to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for the inclusion of events for athletes with intellectual disabilities at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics.

At the World Championships, a research study was conducted to determine some of the attitudes of the athletes regarding changes in the Paralympics. What follows is not an analysis of the data collected at those games, but rather a presentation of both sides of the issue.

Many athletes, particularly those from North America, are against the inclusion of athletes with intellectual disabilities. In fact, a number of athletes were in favour of boycotting the championships because of this change. Is this discrimination -- by people who have experienced discrimination themselves? Or are there legitimate reasons for excluding athletes with intellectual disabilities?

Athletes opposed to the inclusion are often concerned about the stigma that might be attached. Many feel they have been fighting for years to teach the public that the presence of a physical disability does not mean there is also an intellectual disability. Who hasn’t had a store clerk or waiter ask their able-bodied friend what "she would like"? Now, with the inclusion, many feel the years of progress will be lost. As one athlete said, "If the general public realized the difference between a mental and a physical disability, there wouldn’t be a problem."

Many athletes gave personal accounts of competitions they had attended where an athlete with an intellectual disability stopped in the middle of a race and pulled out a cigarette before continuing, or stopped to pick up a cap that had fallen off during the race. One athlete who was racing at such a track meet said, "People who saw that put me in the same class."

Athletes supporting the inclusion of athletes with intellectual disabilities do not see this as a problem. Some feel that if the public really does not realize the difference between a mental and a physical disability, it is up to the athletes and others with physical disabilities to change the public’s view.

As one athlete explained, "I think people have difficulty with their own ability, and then there is the slightest danger that an able-bodied person might compare them with those with mental disabilities ... but I am strong enough to say I don’t have a mental disability. I may do sport in the same arena they do, but it’s different classes. We just share the arena, as we do with people who are blind or amputees."

Great opposition comes from countries where Special Olympics is well known. Athletes are concerned that because Special Olympics is not competitive sport but rather a place where all participants can feel like a winner, the Paralympics will get that same reputation and lose its credibility. One athlete said, "It’s more a kind of playing when they do sports." Many athletes with disabilities feel very insulted or at least frustrated when someone asks them if they have ever participated in the Special Olympics.

Athletes with disabilities want to be taken seriously. They want to be recognized as elite athletes, equal to their able-bodied counterparts. Many people were upset over the remark made by the Australian "chef de mission" that the inclusion of athletes with disabilities at the Commonwealth Games in an embarrassment to the games. This remark, however, sparked the public’s interest and got them watching the events. The increased exposure helped the general public see that these athletes with disabilities were elite athletes and this was competitive sport at the elite level.

It is important to remember that athletes with intellectual disabilities who would compete at the Paralympics are not comparable to the average participant at the Special Olympics. Besides having an IQ below 70 and being eligible for social programs because of their intellectual disability, they must meet sports performance standards. Kenny Colaine, a very talented INAS-FMH athlete from Great Britain and Gold medalist at the World Championships, has run 22 seconds for 200 metres and less than 11 seconds for 100 metres. The response from one athlete: "If you’re that good, then you’ve got an outlet in able-bodied sport. We haven’t got that outlet."

Can these athletes race against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics and, if not, should they be at the Paralympics if this is to be elite sport? One athlete explained, "Dedication to training, focusing, visualization, understanding the tactics of a race -- all of these mental processes are integral to participating and competing as an elite athlete, and if you can’t fulfil those requirements, you can’t name yourself as an elite athlete. By definition, a person with an intellectual disability cannot fulfil those obligations -- or if they CAN fulfil those obligations, then they are able-bodied. I can’t justify giving them another classification."

Many of the athletes with intellectual disabilities competing in Berlin were thrilled to be competing at the World Championships beside their teammates with physical disabilities. "It’s fun to meet people from other counties," one athlete said. But when asked about her training and racing, she responded, "I do as I’m told." Is it the athletes’ choice to compete at the Paralympics, or is this the choice of their coaches, administrators and parents?

Athletes were upset that the decision to include athletes with intellectual disabilities was made without their consent. But, had able-bodied athletes been asked whether events for athletes with physical disabilities should be included at the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, would they have been against it?

Bernard Atha, president of INAS-FMH, believes that "in a few years, no one will question the inclusion."

We will have to wait and see if his prediction is correct.

(Helga Rempel, R.D., M.Sc. is a lecturer at the University of Calgary and the sport nutritionist to a number of national sports teams.)