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Dylan Brown shares her journey from volunteering at Special Olympics, to interning at their headquarters, emphasizing the profound impact of inclusion and early intervention for children with intellectual disabilities.

As part of Special Olympics 50th Anniversary, Lions Clubs further committed to supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities.

While playing college football at Bethel University, Jaran Roste discovered another passion: Special Olympics, leading him to become one of Special Olympics Minnesota's first student-athlete ambassadors.

“We’re dreaming big and trying to act big”

As Gilmour Borg and his fellow nine new Sargent Shriver Global Messengers take part in a week of training in Washington D.C., we take the opportunity to get to know Gilmour a little better with a one-to-one interview.

The fifth ‘Empress Theophano’ Prize was awarded to Special Olympics, Chairman Dr. Timothy Shriver and CEO Mary Davis last week in Thessaloniki, Greece in a moving ceremony in the 2000-year-old Rotunda in Thessaloniki, Greece, in the presence of hundreds of global actors in the development community.

The "Between the Games" Sports Conference focused on leveraging the Special Olympics World Games to further Sports Development for Athletes with Intellectual Disabilities in Europe and Eurasia.

Special Olympics Pilipinas (SOP) is dedicated to empowering athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the Philippines. Our vision is to cultivate inclusive spaces in schools and community sports clubs nationwide. These are environments where every athlete, regardless of ability, can experience the transformative joy of sport and the power of lifelong friendship.

Currently, we are proud to support a growing community of 1,000 athletes, supported by a network of 15 grassroots sports clubs, 32 Unified Champion Schools and 15 UCS Banner Schools. To ensure this impact is both efficient and sustainable, we work in close partnership with the Philippine government. Through strategic collaborations with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and various Local Government Units (LGUs), we are integrating inclusive sports into the national fabric. This allows us to establish accessible, weekly training sessions in school and community sports clubs across the country, providing our athletes with a consistent and reliable space to grow, compete, and belong.

Our holistic approach combines athletic training with vital health services. By linking our year-round sports programs with the Healthy Athletes® program, we provide our community with essential access to specialized healthcare. By reaching as many athletes as possible across the archipelago, we ensure that health and sport go hand in hand for every participant.

As we continue to grow, we look forward to reaching even more athletes nationwide, as every individual deserves access to the inclusive spaces that Special Olympics Pilipinas offers. By integrating our sports clubs with Unified partners and volunteers, we are slowly but surely fostering a culture of belonging by breaking down barriers and dismantling stigmas against people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (PIDDs) across the country. At Special Olympics Pilipinas, we aren't just playing a game; we are building a future where everyone is welcome.

On the eve of the 2014 Special Olympics European Summer Games, a symposium titled "In Search of Innovative Collaboration for Better Inclusion" presented a pivotal study on the employment of people with intellectual disabilities in Belgium.

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), offering ongoing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and share gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, fellow athletes, and the broader community.

In Asia Pacific, we support 637,015 athletes across 35 country programs, by providing them resources, capacity building support and a platform for their voices. We are committed to building sustainable, high-quality programs that advance the Special Olympics mission and global strategy to achieve inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

There are about 54 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Asia Pacific. This rises to as many as 200 million people with IDD globally. Our goal is to reach out to every one of them—and their families as well. Special Olympics Asia Pacific does this through a wide range of sports and competitions, leadership and skills trainings, health screenings and education, and fund-raising events. We also create opportunities for families, community members, local leaders, businesses, dignitaries and others to band together to change attitudes and support athletes.