10 Classifications in PARALYMPICS (eligible impairments)

The IPC recognises ten eligible impairment types in total. The first group — physical impairment — contains eight of them, listed again here for ready reference:

1. Impaired muscle power — reduced force from the muscles of a limb, one side of the body or the lower body (e.g. spinal-cord injury, spina bifida, post-polio syndrome).
2. Impaired passive range of movement — a systematic, permanent reduction in the range of one or more joints (acute conditions such as arthritis are excluded).
3. Loss of limb or limb deficiency — total or partial absence of bones or joints through illness, trauma or a congenital condition (e.g. amputation, dysmelia).
4. Leg-length difference — significant bone shortening in one leg from a congenital condition or trauma.
5. Short stature — reduced standing height from a musculo-skeletal deficit of the bones or cartilage (e.g. achondroplasia, growth-hormone deficiency, osteogenesis imperfecta).
6. Hypertonia — an abnormal increase in muscle tension and reduced ability to stretch, usually from damage to the central nervous system (e.g. cerebral palsy).
7. Ataxia — a lack of coordination of muscle movements (e.g. cerebral palsy, Friedreich's ataxia, multiple sclerosis).
8. Athetosis — unbalanced, involuntary movements with difficulty maintaining a symmetrical posture (e.g. cerebral palsy, choreoathetosis).

The remaining two of the ten categories are visual impairment and intellectual disability.

Visual impairment, in more detail. This category covers athletes ranging from partial sight severe enough to be judged legally blind, through to total blindness, and includes impairment of any part of the visual system — the structure of the eye itself, the receptors, the optic-nerve pathway, or the visual cortex in the brain. Many visually impaired athletes compete with a sighted guide, for example in middle- and long-distance running, alpine skiing or triathlon. The guide is treated as such an essential part of the performance that, since 2012, guides — and sighted goalkeepers in 5-a-side blind football — have themselves become eligible to receive Paralympic medals alongside the athlete. …