Steadward campaigned to other global disability sport organizations to unite as one. In the 1980s, Paralympic Games were organized as a joint venture by the International Sport Organization for the Disabled, the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation, the International Blind Sports Federation, and the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association. By 1987, he proposed creating a Paralympic sport model which eventually led to the creation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). He was elected the first president of the IPC in 1989, and served in the role until 2001.
