Double-Amputee Deemed Ineligible for Olympics as Prosthetics give “Unfair Advantage”
Well, it’s official today. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has officially deemed Oscar Pistorius ineligible for the Beijing Olympics stating that his j-shaped racing prosthetics (Cheetahs) give him a technological advantage over non-disabled runners. Pistorius has said that he will appeal the decision.
Although I usually cover legislative issues, this news story caught my attention because in some ways it can be seen as a parallel to ADA Restoration. If you are a person with a disability and have the initiative and effort to excel, and you adapt well to your assistive technology then, according to the opposition, you might be gaining some sort of unfair advantage. This is potentially the first of what will be a number of cases in the future regarding the impact of assistive technology on the lives of people with disabilities.
Full Story: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=4129714
Photo is from the Norwich Union British Grand Prix (July 2007) posted in BBC Sports – Athletics
