Should the intellectually disabled be readmitted to the Paralympics, ask Christina Lyons and Craig Carr
In 2000 the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) indefinitely suspended athletes with intellectual disabilities from participating in the Paralympic Games. The justification for the suspension was the lack of consensus on the eligibility criteria for intellectual disabilities. The Equality and Human Rights Commission as well as voluntary sector organisations such as MENCAP and RADAR have been lobbying to have the suspended athletes reinstated and have been exhorting the government to pressure the International Paralympics Committee to remove the suspicion in time for the Games in London 2012
Athletes with intellectual disabilities were first allowed to participate in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta. The criteria used to assess whether an individual was “intellectually disabled” was whether their IQ was below 75. Anyone who wanted to compete in the games and claimed to be intellectually disabled had to produce a psychologist's report confirming that their IQ fell below the requisite standard.
Scandal
The IPC dropped events for intellectually disabled athletes following controversy at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 when it
