In this little article, Batzdorff raises some interesting questions about just who is “disabled,” and what the term might actually mean. But perhaps the heart of the article is the question he raises about the place of competition in our lives.

by Jon Batzdorff, CPO

A recent New York Times article report reported that the International Association of Athletics Federations is hesitant to allow amputees to compete against able bodied runners. The article states that s world governing body, which is seeking to bar him on the grounds that the technology of his prosthetics may give him an unfair advantage over sprinters using their natural legsuber-prosthesiss function.

If the sport IS NOT open to a person with a prosthesis, than the participating athlete must be free of any surgical or medical repairs or enhancement. No prosthesis and no replacement joints; no corrective eye surgery; no tendon replacements, or use of specialized running shoes, and certainly no shoes with graphite shanks.

Perhaps one conclusion is that we are coming to a level of technology that makes it impossible to make the distinction between the normal and the enhanced body as the line between able-bodied and disabled becomes blurred. Therefore we are reaching a point at which high level sport competition will no longer be fair or relevant and we must return to sports for the sheer health and enjoyment of the participants.

Anyone for a run around the park? Come as you are.

Jon Batzdorff, CPO is a prosthetist in Santa Rosa California and president of the non-profit, ProsthetiKa which provides prosthetic assistance worldwide.

Jon Batzdorff, CPO