BM Disability and Sports

The medical model of disability has been widely used throughout society and history and unfortunately this is not the representation of disability that is preferred throughout the community as it pushes a negative message. The American Psychological Association describes the medical model of disability as disability being perceived as an impairment that needs to be fixed or cured. It pushes the message that the goal when you become disabled is to go back to being “normal” and to strive to be able bodied as much as possible. It rejects the idea that disability is a part of life and human existence and it refuses to normalize it.  The biopsychosocial model of disability is the preferred model to use when discussing the concept of disability. According to the National Library of Medicine, the biopsychosocial model includes an individual's health, disability, and environment's influence on their abilities. The biological aspect of the biopsychosocial model includes assessing both...

  I do believe that athletes with any type of disability should be allowed to be classified for the sport of their choice, and not every sport. I agree with the idea that classification is sport-specific because different types of disabilities affect athletes ability to perform in sports to different extents. I agree with the idea of sport specific eligibility for this reason. Just because an athlete is eligible for one sport does not mean they are eligible for all sports. This would cause extreme unfairness due to the fact that each sport requires a different level of ability, and including all sports under one classification would lead to unfair advantages on the competitive level.  On the other hand, I do think there should be a shift to make Paralympic sports more inclusive   and to allow athletes with any type of disability. This would be quite difficult, because there would need to be updates in classification and there would need to be more sporting events to inc...

  I do believe that the ban of Russia and Belarus from the last few Paralympic Games, including the current ones in Milano Cortina is fair and in alignment with the IPC values. The invasion of Ukraine was the major factor leading to this decision back in 2022 . The IPC and IOC made this decision because Russia's Olympic Committee violated the Olympic Charter by invading Ukraine and attempting to occupy Ukraine's sports organizations and athletes in the process. I completely agree with this decision that the IPC made because Russia and Belarus broke the rules and regulations that the committees have in place to protect athletes and other competing countries.                                                                           Nikita Filippov, (Russia), AIN...