Milestones in APA and Sports for Participants with Disabilities

There is evidence of people with a disability participating in sport as early as the 18th and 19th centuries and sport activities were instrumental in the rehabilitation of people with a disability.
The earliest international competition that still exists today was the first International Silent Games held in Paris in 1924. Two men are credited with pioneering the first International Silent Games, Mr Eugene Rubens-Alcais of France and Mr Antoine Dresse of Belgium. Although the name of the games changed periodically, a world games for the deaf was held every fours since that time, except during World War II. Immediately at the end of the war, however, deaf sport quickly resumed and the first winter games took place in 1949 in Seefeld, Austria.

World War II had a significant impact on the development of disability sport and during the rehabilitation of injured war veterans, the Paralympic Games were born. In 1944, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition for World War II veterans with spinal cord injury in Stoke Mandeville, England. By 1948 this had quickly developed into the first Stoke Mandeville Games, which were the precursor to the Paralympic Games. In 1976, the games expanded to include other disability groups and the first Paralympic winter games were held in Sweden.

In June, 1962 Eunice Kennedy-Shriver started a summer day camp for children and adults with intellectual disabilities at her home. This rapidly developed into the first Special Olympics World Games that took place in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA. The first winter games followed in Colorado, USA in 1977.

Since the 1970s the concept of organised multi-sport and multi-disability games became popular and a number of regional games for people with a disability also emerged. These include games such as the Parapan American Games and the Far East and South Pacific Games.

Whilst there is limited historical and statistical evidence of the participation of people with a disability in developing countries, in the three largest international competitions – Deaflympics, Paralympic Games and Special Olympics World Games, participation by developing countries has seen the greatest improvement since 1990.