Joan was Sir Ludwig Guttmann's assistant at the Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville. She later became Secretary General for the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF).  She supported Dr. Guttman's work to develop Paralympic Sport. In the late eighties she worked with other sport organizations to establish the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Joan was awarded the MBE in 1975, and in 1999, she received a Paralympic Order for her outstanding and long-lasting contributions to the Paralympic Movement.

Tribute to Joan by Philip Harris, Editor of Paraplegia journal, in 1994. The original document can be found here

In 1998, “Stoke Mandeville: Road to the Paralympics, Fifty Years of History”, written by Joan was published.

Joan Scruton passed away on 1st November 2007.