DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW?

SPECIAL OLYMPICS ATHLETES ARE NOT JUST “KIDS.”

Welcome to our first in a series of “DID YOU KNOW?” blog postings about Special Olympics!

We recognize and appreciate your generosity in knitting and crocheting scarves for the Special Olympics USA Scarf Project, and although some of you may be more familiar than others, we thought you might like to learn more about Special Olympics, the athletes they support and the programs they offer the intellectually disabled population.  We hope this series of postings over the next several months will inspire you, and perhaps let you know about something you might not have known otherwise.

For starters, we thought we’d clarify one of the most common misperceptions about Special Olympics athletes themselves.  It sounds simple, but as the saying goes, a name goes a long way!

Though it’s an easy (and innocent) mistake, there is a stereotype that Special Olympics and their athletes have been trying to break for years:

SPECIAL OLYMPICS ATHLETES ARE NOT JUST “KIDS.”

You may wonder why trying to overcome this misperception is important to both the athletes and the Special Olympics movement as a whole. Though people generally mean well, it is important to refer to the athletes as what they are.  Athletes.

Think of it this way – if you trained as an athlete, put in all the time, practice and hard work that all Special Olympics athletes do, wouldn’t you want to be called an athlete?  It seems like something simple and maybe even trivial to some, but it is important that we recognize Special Olympics athletes as athletes.  If we don’t, we are not fully recognizing their hard work and many accomplishments, which is something that should be celebrated!

So, while a lot of the athletes technically are kids (as you can see below in the Fun Facts), nearly half (40%) of the athletes competing in Special Olympics in North America are adults over the age of 22.

We invite and encourage you to call them by their true name—athletes.

SOME FUN FACTS!

Special Olympics athletes can take part in Special Olympics starting at age 8, and can compete as long as they want to.  So whether they are hanging up their ski poles and soccer cleats at age 40, 65 or 80, it doesn’t matter to Special Olympics!  As long as the athletes want to compete in Special Olympics, they are encouraged to do so.

54%  – The percentage of Special Olympics athletes in North America that are school-aged (Age 8-21)

40% – The percentage of Special Olympics athletes in North America that are adults (Age 22+)

**The remaining 6% take part in Special Olympics North America programs that are geared towards children less than 8 years of age. The Special Olympics Young Athletes Program introduces those aged 2-7 years with intellectual disabilities and their families to the world of Special Olympics by engaging children in activities to foster physical, cognitive, and social development and also raises awareness of the abilities of children with intellectual disabilities.

Special Olympics Athletes model scarves for 2011 Special Olympics USA Scarf Project