Inclusion

By Janet Gates

"Sport is the mirror of how society views itself. That level of integration," said Man in Motion Rick Hansen, "launches Victoria into the most progressive Games ever."
-- From Spirit, the XV Commonwealth Games Newspaper.

Canadian athletes with disabilities have witnessed a number of promising "firsts" on the road to inclusion in able-bodied sport events. The summer of 1993 saw one such success: the first-ever inclusion of athletes with disabilities in the Canada Summer Games in Kamloops.

Sharing the Games spotlight were athletes in men’s and women’s wheelchair track, and swimming events for people with visual impairments. Participating athletes gave the Games organizers high marks on their efforts to integrate the athletes fully in the athletes’ village and within their respective events.

The Games efforts are just one example of historically closed doors now opening to Canadian wheelchair athletes. But what is happening on the international scene? More important, what events do Canadian athletes want to be part of? To answer this question, the Canadian Paralympic Committee polled its membership this summer. The results were quite clear: Canadian athletes with disabilities want to be included in events at all levels, from the Olympics to single-sport national championships. The majority of the athletes cited the earning of a Olympic medal as the ultimate sport achievement.

Assisting the international inclusion efforts is an organization based in Ottawa called CIAD, the Commission for the Inclusion of Athletes with a Disability. A Commission of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), supported in part through Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion fund, CIAD has reason to celebrate.

Small strides are being made with events such as the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, B.C. showing leadership in international inclusion efforts. "This will be the first major Games where athletes with disabilities are included to such a high degree," says Victoria’s Commonwealth Games Sport Vice President Bruce Wasylik. Athletes with disabilities from around the world will compete in men’s and women’s lawnbowls for those with visual impairments, men’s open wheelchair marathon and 800-metre track, and men’s and women’s 100-metre freestyle swimming.

Wanting to build on this success, the IPC approved at its September meeting CIAD’s continued efforts to negotiate full-medal events in the 1996 Olympic Games and beyond. Working towards the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, CIAD, along with the IPC Chair, will negotiate a slate of events for inclusion. At the 1995 fall IPC meeting, final approval will be sought from the IPC Assembly.

Further information on any of these initiatives can be accessed through the Canadian wheelchair Sports Association or CIAD at: 1600 James Naismith Drive, Gloucester, ON, K1B 5N4.

(Janet Gates is Director General of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association.)