By: Krystian Shaw
Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. In Unified Sports, teams are made up of people of similar age and ability, which makes practices more fun and games more challenging and exciting for all. Having sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions and false ideas are swept away. http://www.specialolympics.org/unified-sports.aspx
Some people are against Special Olympics because they think it is segregation. I just learned about Special Olympics Unified Sports. It is all about Inclusion rather then segregation. It lets all of us be known as people first. Unified Sports is very new in the world.
Thank-you Special Olympics International for listening to us self advocates who wanted something that was about people with and without disabilities.
I think Unified Sports is a good idea because it raises awareness about our abilities rather than disabilities and what we can do, not what we can’t.
I believe in having choice and inclusion. That’s what I admire about Special Olympics Unified Sports- it is about social inclusion and showcases our abilities with people who don’t have disabilities. It’s about what we have in common rather than what makes us different. And it’s about having fun and making friends!
I hope service providers in BC find out more about Unified Sports because I think it is something people with diverse abilities want the choice to become part of.
Here are the reasons why I think Special Olympics Unified Sports is beneficial.
Unified Sports:
1. fits with service provider mandates for inclusion.
2. is good for social inclusion rather then segregation.
3. levels the playing field
4. lets all of us be equals and shows us as people first
5. lets us compete with people with similar abilities and capabilities
Here are the links that show what unified sports is all about:
