Editing Commonwealth Games (section)

=== Paraplegic Games ===
{{main|Commonwealth Paraplegic Games}}

[[File:1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games Competitors Team Photograph.jpg|thumb|Athletes of the [[1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games]] at [[Perth]]]]

The Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were an international, [[multi-sport event]] involving athletes with a disability from the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth countries]]. The event was sometimes referred to as the Paraplegic Empire Games and British Commonwealth Paraplegic Games. Athletes were generally those with [[spinal injuries]] or [[Poliomyelitis|polio]]. The event was first held in 1962 and disestablished in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|last1=DePauw|first1=Karen P|last2=Gavron|first2=Susan J|title=Disability sport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPsqAoFtG-sC&pg=PA102|access-date=25 February 2012|year=2005|publisher=Human Kinetics|isbn=978-0-7360-4638-1|pages=102–|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528065508/http://books.google.com/books?id=BPsqAoFtG-sC&pg=PA102|archive-date=28 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The Games were held in the country hosting the Commonwealth Games for able-bodied athletes. The countries that had hosted the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were Australia, Jamaica, Scotland and New Zealand in [[1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1962]], [[1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1966]], [[1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1970]] and [[1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1974]]. Six countries – Australia, England, New Zealand, [[Northern Ireland]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] — had been represented at all Commonwealth Paraplegic Games. Australia and England had been{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} the top-ranking nation two times each: [[1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1962]], [[1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1974]] and [[1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1966]], [[1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games|1970]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

==== Inclusion of disabled athletes in Commonwealth Games ====

Athletes with a disability were then first included the [[1994 Commonwealth Games]] in [[Victoria, British Columbia]] when this events was added to athletics and lawn bowls,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Van Ooyen and Justin Anjema|first1=Mark|last2=Anjema|first2=Justin|title=A Review and Interpretation of the Events of the 1994 Commonwealth Games|publisher=Redeemer University College|date=25 March 2004|url=http://sporthamilton.com/content/histroy/1994commonwealthgames.pdf|access-date=25 February 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731114220/http://sporthamilton.com/content/histroy/1994commonwealthgames.pdf|archive-date=31 July 2013 }}</ref> As at [[2002 Commonwealth Games]] in Manchester, England, they were included as compulsory events, making them the first fully [[Inclusion (disability rights)|inclusive]] international multi-sport games. This meant that results were included in the medal count and the athletes are full members of each country delegation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Para-sports for elite athletes with a disability|url=http://www.thecgf.com/sports/ead.asp|work=Commonwealth Games Federation website|access-date=25 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130060533/http://thecgf.com/sports/ead.asp|archive-date=30 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the 2007 General Assembly of the [[Commonwealth Games Federation]] (CGF) at [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]], the [[International Paralympic Committee]] (IPC) and CGF signed a co-operative agreement to ensure a formal institutional relationship between the two bodies and secure the future participation of elite athletes with a disability (EAD) in future Commonwealth Games.

Then, IPC President [[Philip Craven]] said during the General Assembly:
{{Quote box
|quote = "We look forward to working with CGF to develop the possibilities of athletes with a disability at the Commonwealth Games and within the Commonwealth. This partnership will help to galvanize Paralympic sports development in Commonwealth countries/territories and seek to create and promote greater opportunities in sport for athletes with a disability".
|source = — IPC President [[Sir Philip Craven]]
}}

The co-operation agreement outlined the strong partnership between the IPC and the CGF. It recognised the IPC as the respective sport body and have the function to oversee the co-ordination and delivery of the Commonwealth Games EAD sports programme and committed both organisations to work together in supporting the growth of the Paralympic and Commonwealth Games Movements.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paralympic.org/press-release/ipc-and-cgf-sign-co-operative-agreement|title=IPC and CGF Sign Co-operative Agreement|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|language=en|access-date=7 February 2020}}</ref>