Special Olympics

~Special Olympics~

~What are the Special Olympics?

    The Special Olympics is a global organization that promotes inclusion, understanding, and acceptance among people with and without intellectual disabilities. Founded in 1968, the Special Olympics provides people with intellectual disabilities opportunities to realize their potential and develop physical fitness. Everyone involved strives together for excellence, appreciation, joy, friendship, and courage. The Special Olympics' mission is to provide year-round training and athletic competition for a variety of Olympic-type sports for kids and adults who have intellectual disabilities.  To be eligible for the Special Olympics you must be at least eight years old and identified by a professional for intellectual visibility, cognitive delays, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay. There is also a Special Olympics young athletes program that is created for children with intellectual disabilities ages two through seven. 

~Seperation of Special Olympics and Paralympics~

    After researching both topics I have come to the conclusion that they should remain separate. I came to this conclusion because each event is specific to different types of people. I believe they have a system and rules to accommodate certain people. Combining both of these events in my opinion will complicate things and possibly make certain sports unfair for certain participants. The Special Olympics allows participation from children ages eight and up, while the Paralympics mainly focus on adults 18 years old and up. Additionally, the Special Olympics is solely for athletes with intellectual disabilities. While the Paralympics focus more on physical disabilities. The philosophy for both events is also very different; The Special Olympics philosophy is the "power of sport to help all who participate fulfill their potential... does not exclude any athlete based on qualifying scores or skill". The Paralympics philosophy is "Elite athletes whose stringent training is done with personalized coaches/ training staff for international competitions leading to world championships and Paralympic games"(Brittian, 2010). Combining both events would be a hard task to accomplish because of how different both events are. There would be a lot of changes including the age limit, selection process, philosophy, and eligible disabilities. Both of these organizations offer amazing benefits for all of their participants and work towards change in the world. Both events are special and unique in different ways and should be separate. I feel the most amount of people that can compete in these games, should and should not fear inequality if they combined. 

~Inclusion of Participants with Intellectual disibilities~

    In my opinion, I feel like athletes with intellectual disabilities should be allowed to participate in Paralympic events. The Special Olympics are for athletes with intellectual disabilities but I think if they would want to move up to the next level and compete, they should be able to. I see no reason if the athlete is skilled enough they would not be allowed to compete in the Paralympics. Maybe some think it could be unfair, but if they do the classification process and allow an individual with an intellectual disability to compete against people that have the same skills as him, I do not think it would be unfair. Not allowing an athlete with an intellectual disability to compete is wrong to me, and I think the Paralympics should allow this so these athletes can push themselves. Pushing themselves to do the best they could do is more powerful than not allowing someone to be able to do something. This promotes a fair and equal world of games that could show people anyone can compete and possibly win. 

~Sorces~

    Brittain, I. (2010). The Paralympic Games explained. New York, NY: Routledge.

 

France 24. (2021). Athletes with intellectual disability battle for Paralympic space. France 24. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210831-athletes-with-intellectual-disability-battle-for-paralympic-space

Special Olympics. Special Olympics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/

~Additional Findings~

https://www.espn.com/soccer/manchester-city/story/4209698/how-special-olympics-athlete-niall-guite-drew-the-attention-of-manchester-city-and-beyond

- This article was a heartwarming story that I found on the ESPN website. It talked about a man named Niall Guite who had drawn more than 100 stadiums to raise money for the Special Olympics Great Brittian after covid 19 shut down the Special Olympics. He reached his goal within one month and orders for his drawings kept coming in. He soon got recognized by Manchester City midfielder, Rodri, he invited him to a match, sent a signed jersey, and hung his drawings in the clubs' boardrooms.