Teigan Van Roosmalen, a deaf Australian swimmer, missed the start of a final race in Beijing on Tuesday at the Paralympic Games after the light on the block that was supposed to coincide with the starter gun malfunctioned. They immediately re-ran the race, so she was still able to participate.  She came in eighth.

Still, headlines immediately ran about how she was marooned on the blocks, heartbroken and crying.

Wait a sec — I thought the Paralympic Games were for those with actual physical disabilities?! Y’know, like amputees and that sort of thing? Teigan also has Usher’s syndrome, uses a cochlear implant, and competes with retinitis pigmentosa as her classification for participation in the games, but still, does that mean she can’t move her body in certain ways? Not at all.

Well, color me uninformed. A quick search reveals that the Paralympic games actually classifies their athletes six ways: 1) those with Cerebral Palsy, 2) amputees, 3) visual impairment, 4) spinal cord injuries, 5) intellectual disabilities, and 6) anybody who doesn’t fit into the first five categories (les autres).

Whoa. Number 6 is a whopper of a category. But I’m clueless, so I won’t go there.

And number 5 sounds familiar: to participate in the Special Olympics, To be eligible to participate in the Special Olympics, “athletes must be at least 8 years old and identified …as having one of the following conditions: intellectual disability; a cognitive delay as determined by standardized measures such as intelligence quotient or other generally accepted measures; or a closely related development disability, i.e., functional limitations in both general learning and adaptive skills.”

Sounds like, in theory, someone could compete in both games? Guess that’s not a bad thing — Teigan herself has apparently competed in both the Deaflympics and the Paralympic Games. Good for her; it’s an undoubtedly hard-earned honor.

But I’m confused here. The US Olympic Committee has a history of supporting the US Olympic and Paralympic teams …but not the US Deaflympic team, even though the International Olympic Committee does recognize the Deaflympics.

And, after all, one of the main principles of the Deaflympics is the idea of equality through sports. From the Deaflympics website:

“Unlike the athletes in all other IOC sanctioned games, including the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Special Olympics, the Deaflympians cannot be guided by starter’s guns, bullhorn commands or referee whistles. Nor can the majority of the athletes experience the crucial sense of inclusion in other general games because they cannot just strike up a conversation or in other ways communicate instantly or in a practical manner with their fellow hearing athletes.”

Hello? Looks like Teigan’s missed start just illustrates the inequality of even the Paralympics, albeit inadvertently, beautifully.

Oh, and postscript: “Unlike other games for athletes with disabilities, which are all directed by non-disabled officials, the Summer and Winter Deaflympics are run by deaf people for deaf athletes.”

Snap.

(Photo from here.)