Exploration of the minimum visual disability criteria for Para nordic and Para alpine skiing using simulated vision impairments

1

ABSTRACT

The International Paralympic Committee Classification Code requires sports to develop evidence-based, sports-specific classification systems. This project aimed to determine the minimum eligibility criteria for Para nordic and Para alpine skiing by simulating vision impairments and measuring the impact of the impairments on performance in twenty-two nordic (28.09 ± 9.68 years; 16 male) and eleven alpine (37.91 ± 18.9 years, 11 male) able-sighted skiers. Eight visual acuity (VA)/contrast sensitivity (CS) (Cambridge Simulation Glasses, University of Cambridge) and six visual field (VF) impairments (bespoke goggles; University of Waterloo) were simulated. VA, CS and VF were measured in each participant before they completed an on-snow session, skiing short competition-style courses with each of the 14 simulated impairments in a randomized order. Clear goggle (no impairment) trials were used as controls. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and decision tree analyses were conducted to determine the optimum VA, CS and VF cut-offs for classifying performance based on differences from baseline in real time. Moderate impairments in VA, CS and VF negatively affect skiing performance. The recommended cut-off criteria based on both analyses were VA ≥0.90 logMAR and ≤48% VF extent for nordic and VA of ≥0.60 logMAR and VF extent of ≤59.0% for alpine.

KEYWORDS:

• Para nordic skiing
• Para alpine skiing
• minimum disability criteria
• visual acuity
• visual field

Acknowledgments

This project has been carried out with the support of the International Paralympic Committee for the purpose of investigating the eligibility criteria, or minimum disability criteria, for visual disability in Para Nordic skiing and Para Alipine skiing. The researchers would like to thank the International Paralympics Committee, World Para Nordic Skiing, and World Para Alpine Skiing for their support and funding throughout the study. The researchers would also like to thank the Classification Research and Development Center for athletes with vision impairment at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, for their continuous support throughout the study, and the National Sports Center for the Disabled, Winter Park Resort, USA, for their invaluable with the alpine study, including recruitment of participants, course design, setting gates, and providing timing equipment.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) 2017 Classification Research Grant Scheme in partnership with World Para Nordic Skiing and World Para Alpine Skiing.