INAS (International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability; originally called INAS-FMH, later INAS-FID, INAS and now as Virtus Sport) was established in 1986 by professionals in the Netherlands who were involved in sport and wanted to promote the participation of athletes with mental handicap in elite sports. The organisations brand name is the International Federation for Intellectual Impairment Sport, promoting sport worldwide for

athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...

with

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signif ...

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual d ...

History

The founding meeting of the first Executive Committee took place in January 1986 and the organisation became a member of the ICC – the International Coordinating Committee – the organisation that later became the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

. INAS’ original membership was just 14 nations which has steadily grown into c.80 nations today. In 1989, the 1st World Games for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability were held in Harnosand, Sweden and in 1992, immediately after the Barcelona Paralympic Games, the first Paralympic Games for ‘Persons with mental handicap’ were held in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In 1994, INAS-FMH became INAS-FID – the ‘International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability’ and in 1996, for the first time, a small programme of events for athletes with an intellectual disability were included in the Paralympic Games in Atlanta. A larger programme including Athletics, Swimming and Basketball was included in the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000, but it soon emerged that a small number of athletes had cheated the system of determining eligibility, resulting in the suspension of events — a suspension that was to remain in place until 2009. Despite exclusion from the Paralympic Games, the Inas sport programme continued to grow considerably to incorporate more than 10 sports whilst its membership grew to cover all 5 continents. INAS provides competition opportunities for elite athletes with an intellectual disability in Paralympic and non-Paralympic sports and is different from

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

, which provides non-elite opportunities worldwide.

Eligibility and classification

Athletes with an

are characterised by an IQ of 75 or below, significant limitations in Adaptive Behaviour and the disability must be present before the age of 18. This is based on th
American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disability
definition of Intellectual Disability. Approximately 1.5% of the population are thought to have an intellectual disability.

Current activities

Today's sport programme includes some 15 annual events, more than 4000 athletes are registered to compete at an international level, whilst many hundreds of thousands of people with an intellectual disability have the opportunity to enjoy sport through the work of member organisations. Following a partnership between INAS and the International Paralympic Committee to overhaul the process of determining athlete eligibility, events for athletes with an intellectual disability were re-instated to the Paralympic programme by the IPC General Assembly in November 2009, in preparation for the London

2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Game ...

. In 2019, INAS rebranded as Virtus.

Events

INAS World Championships

* Main article : INAS World Championships Note : INAS do not organise events in Taekwondo but work in partnership with World Taekwondo

World Para Taekwondo Championships In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. * Source : * http://www.inas.org/events/results * http://www.inas.org/events

INAS Global Games

* Main article :

INAS Global Games The INAS Global Games is a quadrennial global, international multi-sport event organised by the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS). First organised in 2004, it is intended for elite competition in disabi ...

In 2004 INAS launched a new multi-sport competition

(INAS World Games / Intellectual Disability Global Games). The first event took place in Bollnäs, Sweden and featured more than 1000 athletes. The second Global Games took place in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 2009. With the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual disability into Paralympic competition, it was decided to move the Global Games to the year preceding the Paralympics. The next Global Games therefore takes place in 2011. After a bidding procedure,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

was chosen as host nation. 2015 Global Games took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in September. The 2019 INAS Global Games will take place in Brisbane, Queensland Australia. Results : http://www.inas.org/events/results

INAS European Games

* Main article : INAS European Games Results : http://www.inas.org/event/2018-inas-european-games?instance_id=76

Regional Championships

2022 asian, african and american games for first time.

INAS European Championships

inas europe prague2017.org www.inas.global/europe/

References

External links

American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disability
{{International Sports Federations Parasports organizations Sports organizations established in 1986 International organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Sheffield