The Invisible Games
Shared memories and experiencesof The World Games for the Deaf & Deaflympics
The Deaflympics (initially known as the Silent Games, then the World Games of the Deaf) are the second oldest multinational sporting championships only next to the Olympic
History
The athletes of the Deaflympics set records and break barriers every time they participate in the Summer and Winter Deaflympics. Not only do these new records set
At a time when societies everywhere viewed deaf people as intellectually inferior, linguistically impoverished and often treated as outcasts, Monsieur Rubens-Alcais envisioned the international sports event as the best answer to prove that the deaf were more than what they were viewed. Antoine Dresse, a young deaf Belgian, was instrumental in helping him accomplish his dream. The Silent Games were the first ever for any group of people with disabilities. Furthermore, it was the secondly created internationally-competed games of any kind.
History
The modern-day Olympics was the first. After the initial Paris Games, deaf sporting leaders assembled at a café and established Le Comité International des Sports Silencieux (the International Committee of Silent Sports), commonly known as the CISS. Recently, the CISS was renamed Le Comité International des Sports des Sourds (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf), the ICSD. The competition at the games immediately became the social context for countries to deliberate about similarities and differences in the welfare of their deaf people.
Over the years, games have been awarded
History
The Deaflympics are distinguished from all other IOC-sanctioned games by the fact that they are organized and run exclusively by members of the community they serve. Only deaf people are eligible to serve on the ICSD board and executive bodies. Today, the number of national federations in the ICSD membership has reached 108, a big difference from the original 9 countries almost 100 years ago!
Among recent newcomers enjoying the benefits of this worldwide network of sports and social inclusion include geographically disparate countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Seychelles, and Yemen. Twenty-two (22) Summer Games, has been held consistently at 4-year intervals since the initial Paris games. The only exceptions were the cancellation of 1943 and 1947 Games because of World War II.