Professor Jennifer Mactavish has been selected to receive the Inter-national Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) 2015 Paralympic Scientific Award in recognition of the role she played in the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual impairment into the Paralympic programme.
Jennifer, the daughter of Janet Mactavish of Sechelt and the late Malcolm Mactavish, former principal of Roberts Creek Elementary, is now the dean of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University. She receives her honour at the VISTA 2015 Conference in Girona, Spain, Oct. 7 to 10.
The award is given biennially to an academic researcher for his or her contributions to research in the field of sports for persons with an impairment, and it serves to promote and encourage further study in this area.
“I am delighted and humbled to be the recipient of the 2015 Paralympic Scientific award,” Mactavish said. “This tribute rightfully belongs to a dedicated community of academics, graduate students, coaches and sport federations from around the world, who have worked together over the years to address a complex question that, unanswered, would continue to exclude athletes with intellectual impairment from showcasing their talents at the highest level of sport.
“I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and particularly so for the athletes who can again dream of representing their countries as Paralympians.”
For the last 20 years, Mactavish has been an expert in the field of persons and athletes with an intellectual impairment and spent 15 years spearheading the research to get athletes with an intellectual impairment reintroduced to the Paralympic programme.
At the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, it was discovered that some athletes who took part were ineligible for competition. As a result, the intellectual impairment group was removed from the Paralympic programme until a reliable system for determining athlete eligibility and sport-specific classification was developed.
Mactavish’s work in the international sporting community for athletes with an intellectual impairment provided the framework for the Eligibility Classification Research project, directed by the joint IPC - International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability taskforce. This successful project eventually led to 120 intellectually impaired athletes competing at London 2012 after a 12-year absence in athletics, swimming and table tennis.
Mactavish’s work has also appeared in numerous publications, and in 2013 she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal by Queen Elizabeth II for her national and international service to disability sport.
