From USA Today:

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, one of the original founders of the Special Olympics, recalls the growth of the athletic competition for people with intellectual disabilities on the eve of the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration.

Anne Burke worked with Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the Kennedy Foundation to organize the first Special Olympics event held in Chicago in 1968. Barbara Lee Cohen, formerly the executive director of Special Children’s Charities, which raises money for the Special Olympics says, “(The news media) thought it was terrible that we were allowing these children to go hopping across the field … We had to turn people’s attitudes around, and it was very challenging. We needed a strong force – and Anne was that force.”

Burke says perceptions of people with intellectual disabilities have improved significantly since the first Special Olympics event

After visiting the Special Olympics World Summer Games in China last year, she says, “It was unbelievable … It showed: All hearts beat the same. There we were (in China), celebrating children with disabilities. And how did we get there? By bringing them out of the closet.”

A sidebar provides a timeline for the development of the Special Olympics games.

(USA Today photo)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 6:19 am and is filed under exercise/sports, intellectual/developmental disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.