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Special Olympics football match in Haikou, Hainan province. Photos courtesy Special Olympics China and Chinese Taipei |
Football (soccer)! It’s the latest craze at Special Olympics and it’s taking the world by storm for players with and without intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics invites everyone to play, coach or be a fan in their local community.
The movement’s Football Initiative kicked off in Europe in May with 50,000 players in more than 50 countries. In June, the Special Olympics East Asia region held matches in 100 cities, including 78 cities in China and 10 cities in Chinese Taipei. In preparation for the weeklong events, East Asia held coaches clinics and recruited volunteers from every walk of life: teachers, truck drivers, students, leaders of local Disabled Persons Federations; members of education and sports bureaus and local football stars.
Sport is one of the most powerful ways to dispel stereotypes surrounding people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics athletes’ skills on the field illustrate their strengths, struggles and achievement rather than hurtful stereotypes which can be perpetuated from generation to generation. For example, everywhere in the world, the public greatly underestimates the capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities and overestimates the severity of their condition. However, 97 percent of people with intellectual disabilities fall into the categories of mild or moderate. Special Olympics research has shown that the closer involvement that individuals of the general public have with Special Olympics the more positive they are about what people with intellectual disabilities can accomplish.
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Special Olympics Chinese Taipei Football team celebrate Football week. Photos courtesy Special Olympics China and Chinese Taipei |
The Football Week in East Asia was a first-of-its-kind event in the region. An outpouring of community involvement introduced people, many for the first time, to the abilities and diversity of people with intellectual disabilities and helped them see for themselves that every person has gifts and skills and a right to be included in society.
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