Deaflympics
ASL 101-06 Professor Anisa Guy 10/13/11 Journal: Deaflympics The Deaflympics is an event similar to the Olympics but geared towards the hearing impaired (“Disabled World”). This event first began in 1924, where it took place in Paris (“Disabled World”). The Deaflympics became the first international athletics even held for people with disabilities. This event was originally called the International Games for the Deaf, International Silent Games, World Games for the Deaf, and occasionally called the World Silent Games before finally being dubbed the Deaflympics (“Disabled World”).
Like the Olympics, the Deaflympics has many different games in which the deaf can compete in, such as bowling, football, tennis, curling and many more. For the Deaflympics, the contestants must have a hearing loss of at least 55 decibels, which would make hearing difficult with any aid, in order to participate (Legg, and Emes). The use of hearing aids and cochlear implants are strictly prohibited. The reason for this is so that all the participants are all placed on the same level hearing wise.
To balance this out sign language was permitted for use within the games for two reasons, it’s considers the preferable language to those participating and is considered a sigh language which does not put the contestants at an advantage over the other competitors (Legg, and Emes). Like the Olympics, the Deaflympics includes both winter and summer games, and takes place across the world. The Deaflympics has taken places in Frances, Denmark, Germany, Italy and even Australia, to name a few. While 33 of the past 37 Deaflympics events have taken place overseas, the United States has only hosted the games 4 times in its history.
The first was in 1965 in Washington DC, in 1985 in Los Angeles, 1975 in Lake Placid, and lastly in 2007 in Salt Lake City. While similar to the Olympics, the Deaflympics does not hold nearly as many events as the Olympics do. The Olympics holds up to 300 events and 26 sports depending on whether it’s the winter or summer Olympics. The Deaflympics hold just 24 events and sports with both their summer and Deaflympics events combined. The winter sports and events usually only consist of alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, curling and ice hockey.
The summer sports and events hold double that and include basketball, karate, judo, wrestling, swimming, and many of the traditional Olympic-like games. Citations * “What are the Deaflympics? ” Disabled World. N. p. , 05 18 2011. Web. 12 Oct 2011. <http://www. disabled-world. com/sports/deaflympics/>. * Legg, David, and Claudia Emes. “Historical overview of the Paralympics, Special Olympics, and Deaflympics. ” The Free Library. N. p. , 01 01 2004. Web. 12 Oct 2011. <http://www. thefreelibrary. com/Historical overview of the Paralympics, Special Olympics, and… -a0114366604>.
