The Paralympic Order In 2003, Jean Stone was awarded the Paralympic Order, the highest honour that the Paralympic Movement can bestow. The Paralympic Order is awarded by the International Paralympic Committee to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the Paralympic Movement. It is given rarely, and only to those whose service has been truly exceptional; athletes, administrators, officials and advocates who have helped shape the Games at the highest level. To receive it is to be recognised, by the Movement itself, as one of the people who made it what it is. Jean's path to that recognition began more than 40 years before the award was made. From her first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960 where she helped athletes in and out of inaccessible transport, through decades of team management, technical administration and tireless advocacy, Jean had been at the centre of the Paralympic Movement at every significant moment. She had worked directly alongside Sir Ludwig Guttmann, its founder. She had helped establish disability sport in Scotland through her work with the Scottish Paraplegic Association. She had served as team manager at multiple Paralympic Games. And when the International Paralympic Committee was formed in 1989, she was at the heart of developing the sports technical structures, classification and rules that would govern the Games for decades to come. Martin McElhatton, Chief Executive of WheelPower, described Jean's contribution to the IPC's formation as helping to create "the blueprint of the Paralympic Games, much of which continues to this day." That blueprint; the structures, the rules, the technical frameworks, is Jean's work, running quietly through every Paralympic Games held since. Current President of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons said: The Paralympic Movement has lost a great and exceptional friend. Jean was a pioneer, a well-loved figurehead who did so much for developing Paralympic sport and the Paralympic Movement. There is nothing Jean did not know about the Paralympic Movement and her work and dedication transformed the lives of so many, many people." The Paralympic Order sits in the Jean Stone Collection alongside her Stoke Mandeville Games uniform and the other physical objects she preserved. It is a formal, tangible acknowledgement from the Movement she served that her contribution had been seen, and that it mattered. Jean never sought recognition. The archive she left behind makes that completely clear. She kept records not to be remembered herself, but because she believed the history should be celebrated. The Paralympic Order is the Movement's way of saying ‘you should be too’. The Jean Stone Collection has now been catalogued and is searchable via the Buckinghamshire Archives Disability Sports Catalogue. Manage Cookie Preferences