The first Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability were held in Rome in 1960; officially called the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, now called the World Wheelchair Games. These are considered to be the first Paralympic Games.  The first Winter Paralympics were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976.

Since 1988, the Summer Paralympics have been held in the conjunction with the Olympic Games in the same host city. This practice was adopted in 1992 for the Winter Paralympics, and became an official policy of the International Olympic Committee and the IPC following a June 19, 2001 agreement. The Games take place three weeks after the closing of the Olympics, in the same host city and using the same facilities. Cities bidding to host the Olympic Games must include the Paralympic Games in their bid, and typically both Games are now run by a single organizing committee.

In the 1996 Atlanta Games athletes with intellectual disabilities were allowed to participate for the first time. However following cheating in the 2000 Sydney Games, in which non-disabled athletes were entered in the Spanish Basketball ID team [3], such athletes were banned by the IPC [4]. Following an anti-corruption drive, the International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) lobbied to have these athletes reinstated. Beginning in 2004, athletes with an intellectual disability began to be re-integrated into Paralympic sport competitions, although they remain excluded from the Paralympic Games.  The IPC has stated that it will re-evaluate their participation following the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Summer Sports

The following sports are currently on the Summer Paralympic Games programme:

• Archery 
• Athletics
• Boccia
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Football 5-a-side
• Football 7-a-side
• Goalball
• Judo
• Powerlifting
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Table Tennis
• Wheelchair basketball
• Wheelchair fencing
• Wheelchair rugby
• Wheelchair tennis
• Volleyball (sitting)

These sports will be part of the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.

Winter Sports

The following sports are on the current Winter Paralympic Games programme:

• Alpine skiing
• Ice sledge hockey
• Nordic skiing
• Biathlon
• Cross-country skiing
• Wheelchair curling

Disability Categories

• Amputee: An athlete with a partial or total loss of at least one limb.
• Cerebral Palsy: People who have non-progressive brain damage, for example cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or a similar problem affecting muscle control, balance or coordination.
• Intellectual Disability: An athlete who has a significant impairment in intellectual functioning with associated limitations in adaptive behaviour. This category is currently suspended.
• Wheelchair: For all athletes with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities which require them to compete in a wheelchair. Athletes must have at least 10 per cent loss of function to their lower limbs.
• Vision-Impaired: Athletes who have a vision impairment ranging from partial vision (sufficient to be judged legally blind) to total blindness.
• Other: Competitors with a mobility impairment or other loss of physical function that does not fall strictly under one of the other five categories. Dwarfism, multiple sclerosis or birth deformities of the limbs such as that caused by thalidomide are examples of this.

The categories apply for both summer and winter paralympics.