A pioneer’s path is rarely a straight one. It’s a meandering course. And characteristically, settlers prosper in a land far removed from the trails traversed to get there. Such is the case with the Parasport Movement in Ontario.

Ontario’s Parasport pioneers were paramount in charting a revolutionary new course for athletes with a disability not only in our province, but in our country and internationally.

Not only in boardrooms, but in backyards, locker rooms, on rehab mats and bleacher seats is where the machinations for change were first voiced and sculpted by these visionaries. Hardly could they have imagined what the Parasport Movement looks like today.

Weaving through many obstacles, their achievements serve as the fabric and cornerstones of the movement as we know it today, paving the way for new generations of parasport participants and athletes. Their heroic stories, many previously uncelebrated, will be lauded in The Power of ParaSport: Celebrating Five Decades in Ontario.

An Ontario 150 project, supported in part by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, this legacy publication (tabletop-style book format), will educate and motivate, inspiring others to lead, compete, volunteer and advocate to ensure the continued awareness and growth of parasport opportunities for Ontario’s youth and adults with disabilities.