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Supporting Siblings

In an article for The Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, 2020 Social Connectedness Fellow at Special Olympics Olivia Najdovski explains unique challenges faced by siblings of people with intellectual disabilities face and explores solutions.
Young adult male in a yellow shirt sitting at a table talking into a microphone. Two females can be seen in the background.

The following is an excerpt of the article entitled Building Belonging: The Need for Resources for Siblings of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities originally published by The Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness.

In response to siblings’ need for more support, Special Olympics launched their Sibling Engagement Initiative in 2018 in partnership with The Samuel Family Foundation. This initiative seeks to support siblings of people with an intellectual disability (ID) and provide them with an opportunity to develop as leaders and advocates for inclusion. As part of this initiative, Special Olympics is conducting research to better understand sibling relationships between people with ID and their siblings without ID from the perspective of Special Olympics athletes. This is an inclusive research project, meaning that people with ID are involved in the development and implementation of the research.

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