At the Special Olympics USA Games, NBC affiliate KARE 11 visited Special Olympics Strong Minds, the mental health screening discipline of Special Olympics Healthy Athletes®. During the segment they talked with two Special Olympics New York athletes participating in the screening about their experiences and interviewed Special Olympics Michigan athlete, Kayla Cornell who was volunteering at Strong Minds herself. Their coverage highlighted the mental health disparities faced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)—including findings from a recent Special Olympics study revealing that adults in the United States with IDD have 9 times the rate of anxiety and depression as those without functional limitations.
