Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics in 1968 to provide individuals with intellectual disabilities opportunities to train and compete in sports. Special Olympics has grown significantly since then, with over 3 million athletes from over 180 countries participating in 32 different sports. It aims to help participants gain confidence, form friendships, and feel empowered through athletic achievement and competition. Teachers and volunteers play an important role by motivating and supporting athletes in training for and participating in Special Olympics events.

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Matthew Gallineau
Dustin Parrott
English 201
24 June 2014
Rough Draft Slides/Special Education & Special Olympics
Special individuals with cognitive disabilities should be able to train and compete
in sports at a national level. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics in the
year 1968, shared a belief that these special individuals should be able to compete like everyone
else in the world at an Olympic level. Eunice‘s motto was that exceptional children are
exceptional athletes and should be afforded equal opportunities to demonstrate their capabilities
she believed these individuals should be able to attain their highest potential in sports. Special
Education has enhanced the progress and growth of Special Olympics programs; teachers
motivate and give their students confidence to look beyond the classroom and help them to be a
part of organized sports in the. global community. Through Special Olympic sports these
athletes can cleary visualize their abilities, learn to apply their strengths and our less concerned
with their disabilities. They learn more about themselves and their hidden talents and as a result
become well-rounded individuals. Organized sports have enhanced these individuals social and
physical attributes; thru training and participation in Olympic events these athletes have the
opportunity to become more physically fit and at the same time possibility meet and establishing
new friendships that may last a life time. In the long run, participating in Special Olympics has
helped many individuals with cognitive disabilities maintain healthier, productive and more
content lifestyles. The ultimate goal is to assist each individual in adjusting to circumstances that
they have never experienced before and provide them with the opportunity to explore and

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develop their full potential as a person. Many of them become so proficient in sports that they
attained leadership and mentoring roles in the Special Olympics community. Special Olympics
gives individuals with intellectual disabilities the freedom to compete in sports without peer
pressure. At every Olympic event, all athletes are winners.
Throughout history we can point out people that can change the way we think and the way we
live. In 1962, Eunice Kennedy Shriver launched Special Olympics in her own backyard.
Eunice’s sister Rosemary Kennedy was stricken with mental retardation as a child. Eunice’s
father Joseph Kennedy had founded national foundation for mental retardation in 1948; Eunice
wished to pursue her father’s mission to change society’s perceptions and the treatment given to
individuals with intellectual disabilities. In 1962 Eunice Shriver Kennedy launched the Special
Olympic program by inviting kids with intellectual disabilities to explore a variety of sports and
physical activates in her own back yard in the form of day camps. The community got wind of
her camps and from 1962 to 1968 there was more than three hundred camps established over
the country. Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her husband R. Sargent Shriver were motivated to
provide more services to this population; they pushed the government,thru the Kennedy
Foundation plan, to obtain funding for special Olympics programs and for the U.S and
international Olympic committees to endorse the recognition of the Special Olympics. The
Shriver’s started the first Special Olympics in July of 1968 at Sadler field in Chicago, Illinois.
During this event there were roughly one thousand participants from Canada and the United
States. The sports events in this first Olympics were hockey, track and aquatics. Eunice and R.
Sargent Shriver started the first winter special Olympic games in 1977 which took place in
Steamboat Springs, Colorado where athletes engaged in the sports of skiing and skating. The
Shriver’s continued with expanding the Special Olympics movement further by extending the

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games internationally to the middle and Far East Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. R.
Sargent Shriver served as the president of the Special Olympic foundation and the chairmen of
the Special Olympics’ international committee. Eunice Shriver passed away in August of 2009
and R. Sargent Shriver died in January of 2011. Their legacy continued through Eunice son‘s
Timothy Shriver’s hard work and commitment to their cause. They laid down for the foundation
of the Special Olympics movement and they were responsible for changing the lives of many
individuals afflicted with intellectual disabilities. Euncie Kennedy Shriver dream was that these
individuals should not have to change themselves to reach their full potentials in life, rather
society would be the one to change especially their false perceptions of these individuals after
seeing them display their God given talents on the Olympic fields. Today this movement has
over two hundred special Olympic programs, more than 3 million athletes and with 32 sports
events and 16 countries.
The future of the movement of Special Olympics is to the world’s greatest movement
promoting human acceptance and universal human value that the world has ever seen. These are
the worlds deeply wounded victims of prejudice Athletes represent a challenge to intolerance,
prejudice, fear and human misunderstanding. From article. You Know Eunice the World Will
Never be the same After this, “putting a ball in a slow learners hands, and seeing them score,
that’s when the perception of someone can change. What separates Special Olympics from
every other competition is love and being a part of something. They become confident and
empowered by their accomplishments. They no longer see themselves as being someone who is
alone and compromised by their disabilities because they are a valued contribute to their
Olympic sport team.

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The way Special Olympics can be defined is unbounded joy. You can see that in the faces
of the athletes their families and friends. I also think that it’s a celebration. It really breaks down
the barriers of prejudice. It celebrates the differences of these individuals and says no matter
what your disability may mean, you can accomplish great things. Special Olympics are such a
wonderful opportunity to help transform people’s lives. In the 2008 Olympics in East Asia,
special Olympic athlete Siphon Mocha from South America expressed “being here has been like
a dream for me. Coming here being in these games is more then I imagined. It got me out of my
world”. It really gives them the courage to learn on their own and to apply for a new job. It also
gives them the choice to meet and interact with new friends were they may have been afraid to
do that before. Each individual’s personality becomes almost infectious and they are determined
to succeed. They gain the strength to speak up for themselves even when they don’t know what’s
going on. But they are just like every one of us and have their own voice in this world. These
individuals carry these traits off the playing grounds and into their daily lives at home as well.
Many of them start to take great pride in them and were they live. I think what it has shown are
those individuals with disabilities can be tax paying and really productive citizens within their
community. I find it kind of that they all live in the same complex. They eat together and go
places together and form a bond between each other. Therefore, if we play, dance and sing more
unified we might someday learn how to learn how to live more unified.
Those who volunteer to help out each individual during the Olympic Games really play
an important role on the development and progress of him or her. The teacher forms unity with

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the challenged individual through training. Unity is Special Olympic athletes playing with
regular athletes. People with non-disabilities learn more from those who have disabilities. A
person with intellectual disabilities has gifts to bring in every conversation and in every goal
setting. Teachers are the refusal source for these individuals to take part in the Special Olympics.
Special Olympics aren’t just about the sports. It’s about incredible amount of unity, comradely,
friendship, and bonding. Training for each athlete is just like any other sporting event. They
work very hard to win and compete with others. Winning a medal would be a great
accomplishment for each individual. For those who could not win a medal in their event they still
feel happy about participating and giving their best effort. I think the most important thing about
the games is when each person feels they accomplished something. For once in their lives they
took part in something. They should all feel happy that they were given the opportunity to better
themselves and train for the Olympics.
There are certain rules that individuals need to follow in order to be a part of the Special
Olympics. Special Olympics competitions are open to athletes ages 8 and up. For young people
with intellectual disabilities ages 2–7, Special Olympics has a Young Athletes program—a sport
and play program with a focus on fun activities that are important to mental and physical growth.
They are available free of charge for all participants more than four million athletes are involved
with over 180 countries. The Olympics offers 32 different sporting events from basketball,
skating, swimming, aerobics, badminton etc.