Therapeutic bodily assistive devices and paralympic athlete expectations in winter sport.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the impact of therapeutic bodily assistive devices that enable beyond-the-normal body abilities on sport in general and the Paralympics and Olympics in particular.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING: Online.

PARTICIPANTS: Members of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (United States). Distribution of online survey link to membership.

ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS: The survey used a combination of 37 simple yes or no, Likert scale, and opinion rating scale questions. This article is based on 4 of the 37 questions that focus on the impact of therapeutic enhancements on various aspects of sport.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Whether respondents felt that there is an impact of therapeutic bodily assistive devices that enable beyond-the-normal body abilities on the participation of people with disabilities in sport of all levels and the self-identity of athletes with disabilities. Secondary outcome measure was what the respondents felt the impact may be.

RESULTS: The respondents indicated that therapeutic bodily assistive devices, which enable beyond-the-normal body abilities, will have an impact on participation of people with disabilities in sport at all levels and on the self-identity of athletes with disabilities.

CONCLUSIONS: Given the result that the respondents felt that therapeutic enhancements will impact various aspects of sport, it may be prudent to initiate a broader discourse around therapeutic enhancement and to revise codes of ethics so that they give guidance on this topic.