Abduction: The movement of a limb away from the midline of the body.
Ability is the level of or capacity to perform a task.
Able-bodied (AB) is a term used to describe persons who do not have a physical disability.
Accessibility is the promotion of the functional independence of individuals through the elimination, to the greatest extent possible, of disadvantages resulting from a disability (United Nations, 1992).
Active Living encourages individuals to value regular physical activity and integrate it into their daily lives. Active living encourages individuals to ensure that the social and physical environment supports healthy and enriching personal choices.
Adaptation involves making circumstances more suitable through change.
Amputation is the removal of all or part of a limb due to injury or disease. Amputations can affect an individual’s balance and locomotion. Prosthesis for upper and lower limb amputations help enhance mobility and limb functioning. With prosthesis, some individuals can become more involved in physical activity programs.
Amputee is a person who has lost a limb as the result of an injury or disease.
Athlete is any person who participates in a sport.
Athletics refers to track and field events and road racing.
Basic Movement Skills are the foundation of human movement broken into locomotor skills, stability skills, and manipulative skills.
Basketball see Wheelchair Basketball.
BCWSA is the British Columbia Wheelchair Sports Association who provides services and programs for wheelchair athletes throughout BC.
Boccia is a sport that requires placing a ball closer to the white jack ball than the opposition on a 12.5 by 6 metre court. The game has been modified to include participants in wheelchairs.
Body Image refers to an individual’s mental picture or conception of the physical parts of the body and their relationship to one another.
Bridging the Gap is a BCWSA program aimed to introduce individuals with disabilities to availability of sport and recreation opportunities.
Camber is the bar on a wheelchair that allows the wheels to be mounted on an angle, increasing stabilization and turning ability.
Cerebral Palsy is a non-progressive disorder of movement or posture due to damage to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth. While sensory or language disabilities may occur as a result of such brain damage, “cerebral palsy” refers only to movement and posture disorders.
Cervical (as it relates to the neck) refers to the portion of the human spine comprised of seven bony segments, typically referred to as C1 to C8, with cartilaginous discs between each vertebral body. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body.
Classification is a term used in wheelchair sports to determine the level at which an athlete is to be ranked based on their functional ability level and the degree of their injury.
Curling see Wheelchair Curling.
Deaflympics is an international event recognized by the IOC. Participating athletes must havea hearing loss in their better ear of more than 55 decibels.
Demo Team is a group of wheelchair athletes who create awareness about wheelchair sports through school presentations focused on safety, ability rather than disability and the promotion of wheelchair sports.
Equity is the process of being fair and providing everyone with a full range of opportunities and benefits.
Hand cycling is arm-powered cycling in which athletes use their arms to peddle instead of their legs.
Hearing Impaired refers to individuals with any degree of hearing loss. Deafness refers to profound hearing loss with little or no residual hearing.
Hemiplegia refers to paralysis of one side of the body.
Hockey see Wheelchair Hockey and Sledge Hockey.
Impairment refers to anatomic or functional loss. An impairment may or may not result in a disability.
Inclusion is the act of including persons with a disability in environments or activities with able-bodied persons.
Internal Rotation: A joint rotation towards the centre of the body.
Locomotor Movements are those in which the body’s location changes relative to fixed points on the ground. These movements include wheeling, walking, running, hopping, jumping, skipping, sliding, and climbing.
Manipulative Movements involve moving an object or receiving/ controlling an object (usually with the hands or feet) including throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing, carrying, and pushing.
Intellectual Disabilities:
– brain trauma refers to acquired injury to the brain caused by an external force, resulting in the impairment of total or partial physical, psychosocial and/or cognitive functional abilities. Brain trauma may affect areas such as cognition, language, memory and motor abilities.
– developmental disability is an intellectual, physical or sensory impairment resulting in severe limitations in three of the follow- ing: self-care, speaking, learning, mobility, living independently, comprehension, decision making and financial independence.
– mental illness is another kind of disability often categorized under psychological disabilities.
Mobility refers to the capacity, readiness, and facility to move and to move within one’s environment.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, slowly progressing disease of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves.
Murderball was the original name for the sport of Wheelchair Rugby.
Muscular Dystrophy is a chronic, hereditary condition characterized by progressive muscular weakness and atrophy of the muscle fibres. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common type, is a gender-linked recessive disorder that affects only males characterized by progressive muscle weak- ness, obesity, and muscle atrophy.
Paralympics are the games for athletes with disabilities that run parallel to the Olympic Games.
Paraplegia refers to the varying degrees of paralysis to the legs and the trunk. Arms are unaffected in this category. The ability to propel the wheelchair is affected by trunk balance and stability. The major factor between the classes of paraplegics is the evaluation of the abdominal and spinal muscles.
Physical Activity has four physical components: cardio respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, strength, and flexibility that combine to make up good health practices.
Points on the Floor refers to the total number of classification points that are allowed on the floor at a time during an athletic event.
Poliomyelitis (Polio) is a viral infection of the motor cells in the spinal cord that leads to muscular paralysis, atrophy or both. The severity of the infection determines the extent of the neural damage and paralysis. Some muscles are completely hindered, while others are only weakened.
Powersoccer is a sport played by athletes in electric wheelchairs where the object is to manipulate a ball into the opponent’s goal.
Prosthesis is a manufactured artificial limb.
Quad Rugby see Wheelchair Rugby.
Quadriplegia refers to paralysis of all the leg and trunk muscles, and some of the arm muscles. The ability to propel the wheelchair is based on the degree of arm muscle strength, especially that of the triceps.
Reverse Integration refers to able-bodied participants playing wheelchair sports.
Rugby see Wheelchair Rugby.
Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine. In more serious cases, a rod is surgically inserted into the back. Scoliosis results when the spine is misaligned, in part by the relative strength and flexibility of the back muscles. It is one of three alignment disabilities.
Segregation refers to separating persons with a disability from others during some activities.
Sensory Disability is a when an individual is unable to accurately interpret an outside stimulus. This may be in a form of blind- ness, deafness, severe vision impairment or severe hearing impairment.
Sitski is a specially designed ski that allows athletes with a disability to ski.
Sledge is the piece of equipment (like a toboggan) that athletes with a disability sit on when playing sledge hockey.
Sledge Hockey was developed by Swedish national hockey players who after being injured in a plane crash, were determined to make some modifications to the game of hockey that allowed them to still play. The game is similar to ice hockey, with some equipment and rule modifications. Players are seated on a sledge with skate blades under it. The athletes propel themselves across the ice using modified hockey sticks that have picks on one end.
Soccer see Powersoccer.
Special Olympics is an organization providing individuals with an intellectual disability the opportunity to enhance their life and celebrate personal achieve- ments through positive sport experiences.
Spin is when a wheelchair rugby athlete strikes an opponent’s wheelchair at the back part of the wheel causing it to spin horizontally or vertically. The athlete will be penalized for unsafe contact.
Spina Bifida is a buckling of the spine in which one or more of the vertebrae fail to completely close leaving an opening in the spine that leads to nerve damage. Spina bifida usually occurs early, before birth.
Spinal Cord Injuries typically originate in accidents. The degree of disability from a spinal-cord injury depends on where the injury occurred along the spinal cord. In general, the higher the injury is on the cord, the less function there is afterward.
Target Sports involve shooting handguns, air pistols and air rifles at a target. Target shooting is a BCWSA sport.
Tennis see Wheelchair Tennis.
Therapeutic Riding is horseback riding for persons with disabilities.
Transfers are movements from the wheelchair to some other location, usually another seat or the floor.
Trapping the Ball: When a player catches a direct pass on his/her lap by “trapping” the ball with his/her arms.
Vertebrae is an individual bone or group of bones that make up the spine.
Visually Impaired refers to individuals with an impairment in sight (both partially sighted and blind) which adversely affects performance.
Wheelchair is a tool that allows persons with disabilities the ability to be more mobile, by hand-pushing or motor.
Wheelchair Basketball is similar to stand-up basketball except that provisions are made within the rules to allow for a wheelchair.
Wheelchair Curling is a mixed- gender sport that can be played by individuals of all ages and who usually require a wheelchair for daily mobility.
Wheelchair Hockey is played by wheelchair athletes using customized hockey sticks in a gymnasium, an arena without ice, or roller hockey/lacrosse box.
Wheelchair Rugby is a sport originally created for quadri- plegics and now allows athletes with only three limbs affected to play competitively. The game is played in a gymnasium and the object is to carry a ball over an opponent’s goal line.
Wrist Extensor: A group of muscles in the forearm that serve to lift or extend the wrist.
Wheelchair Tennis is a sport identical to stand-up tennis except that the ball is able to bounce twice before being hit.