The 2020 Paralympic Games start today. Over 4000 athletes will compete in a variety of sports including wheelchair basketball, swimming, badminton, and boccia, a sport similar to bocce but designed specifically for people with physical disabilities. For a full list of the paralympic sports and a look at their newly styled icons click here.
Along with incredible feats of strength and determination, viewers will also get to see innovative technology and equipment allowing the athletes to perform at their best.
From specially designed wheelchairs that allow for greater freedom of movement, to futuristic-looking racing prosthetics, to hi-tech boccia ramps, assistive technology is everywhere at the Paralympic games.
Read more about some exciting innovations in these posts:
Cutting-edge technology behind Para sports (2020)
7 Adaptive Sports Technologies You’ll See at the Paralympic Games (2016)
Sport at School
“Fun” and “Fitness” are two of the F-Words in Childhood Development (a CanChild resource) and working with young students with disabilities, we always try to bring the importance of developing play and leisure skills into focus. As part of the sports program at The School for Special Education at Beit Issie Shapiro, we teach our students to play boccia, giving them a hobby and a skill set that can provide them with challenge and joy throughout their lives. Though we may not be competing at the paralympic level, we take participation seriously and have even worked with volunteer designers to develop a ramp so even our students with the most severe limitations can participate. Check out this video to see the adjustable switch-activated Boccia ramp designed by Fixperts, volunteer design students from The Holon Institute of Technology.
Over 4000 athletes will compete in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games this year. That’s over 4000 people that can be role models for our students, demonstrating determination, skill, pride, and teamwork.
We’ll be watching the games with our students this year, and cheering the athletes on. Will you?
Click here for links to online broadcasts of the games, by country.
Let the games begin!
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