The Paralympic Games are a major international sports competition for athletes with disabilities. These games are divided into Winter Games and Summer Games, occurring alternately every two years.
Winter Paralympic athletes compete in five different impairment groups—amputee, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, spinal cord injuries, and les autres (athletes whose impairment does not fit into one of the other categories). The Summer Games include a sixth category, intellectual disability. Within each group, athletes are further divided into classes on the basis of the type and extent of their impairment.