Athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) were re-introduced into the Paralympics in London 2012. As part of this development a classification system had to be established evidencing the impact this impairment has on elite sports performance. This review examines the research behind this issue.Firstly it examines the limited literature comparing the standards reached by top-level athletes with ID with those without disabilities, and then moves on to look at the research demonstrating differences in both the cognitive and physical skills needed for elite performance. The paper then reviews the factors which may be implicated to account for this disparity, from a range of perspectives. A case is made for the importance of looking at this area in terms of the potential for the transferability of research findings from this group to talent identification in mainstream athletes and the benefits of integrating neuropsychological concepts and approaches to understanding the cognitive components behind the development of particular skills associated with high level performance in specific sports.
Keywords: Intellectual disabilities, Paralympics, elite performance, cognitive functioning
ContextThe place of sport and exercise in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) has attracted much research in recent years. Much of this has focused on sport and exercise as remedial or preventative activity to combat specific health issues such as obesity and poor physical health. Other research has looked more at the psychosocial impact of improving social networks (Hutzler & Korsensky, 2010) or psychological factors such as increasing self-esteem (Weiss, Diamond, Demark, & Lovald, 2003). However, leading up to and beyond the re-introduction of athletes with ID into the London Paralympics in 2012 there has been an increasing interest in the participation of these athletes in elite competition, and it is this work which will form the focus of this review.
The ord Ol pi s a d people ith ID have a long association through the SpecialOlympics. The Special Olympics was originally set up in the US in the late 6 s with the aim to provide training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. These days it caters to 4.2 million people across the world and includes a programme of unified (disabled and nondisabled) sport. However, within the Special Olympics, although highly successful and bringing benefit to millions of people with ID and their families across the globe, the emphasis is more on participation, empowerment and opportunity than achieving elite performance (Specialolympics.org, 2015). This domain is the remit of another organisation, the International Federation for Para-athletes with Intellectual Disability (INAS).
The vision of INAS is ….inspired y a elief that an intelle tual disa ility should not e a barrier to enjoying and being the best in sport. INAS ision is that athletes ith an intelle tualdisability across the World have the opportunity to achieve excellence in sport ...