Special Olympics Australia has issued a public challenge to be ‘more inclusive’ of people with intellectual disability, as the global sporting association celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend.
"Today is the start of the inclusion revolution,” CEO of the Special Olympics Australia Corene Strauss told SBS News.
“We call on Australians to choose to include and support the movement that has finally started to break down the discrimination of people with intellectual disability.”
The Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Cricket Ground have joined more than 200 landmarks across the world to be illuminated red marking Saturday’s 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics and the Global Day of Inclusion.
The Water Cube in Beijing, London Eye, Empire State Building and Niagara Falls will also be lit red as part of the initiative.
“The 50th anniversary of Special Olympics comes at a time when the inclusion conversation is needed more than ever,” Ms Strauss said.
“While there have been some great strides in providing platforms for inclusion, Australia needs to work harder to understand the unique challenges of people with intellectual disabilities, and develop a culture that embraces and celebrates difference.”
A series of events have been already begun in Chicago, where the Special Olympics was born in 1968. A Unified Soccer Cup tournament is being contested for the first time, featuring players with and without intellectual disabilities.
“Special Olympics began its mission to break down barriers and create a more inclusive world at the first-ever International Summer Games,” Special Olympics CEO Mary Davis said.
“As we charge into the next 50 years with a renewed purpose of ending discrimination, we are encouraging people across the globe to join us and help create a fully inclusive world.”
NSW athlete keen to claim gold in Abu Dhabi
Over 7,000 Special Olympic athletes representing over 170 countries will compete at the summer games in Abu Dhabi, next March, including 18-year-old Lleyton Lloyd from the NSW Hunter region. He will be looking to win gold medals in several athletics events.
Lloyd, who has a moderate intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder has already won four gold medals in track and field at the national titles in Adelaide this year.
Special Olympics Australia CEO with athlete Lleyton Lloyd (right) and coach Marc Ferguson (left) Source: SBS News
“I was really excited and happy about my achievements,” Lloyd told SBS News.
“I trained three-four times a week for one and a half to two hours and do a gym program once a week, or twice,” he said.
Marc Ferguson, Australia’s assistant athletics coach, has been part of Lloyd’s progression.
“Lleyton gets out there and doesn’t leave anything on track,” he told SBS News.
“This will be the first that the Special Olympics has seen Lleyton on a big stage, but I’m sure it’s not going to be the last.”
Lleyton Lloyd shows off his gold medals won at the Special Olympics national championships in Adelaide this year. Source: SBS News
