Evidence-based health screenings and referrals for follow-up care for Special Olympics athletes and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Since 1997,Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® has delivered over 2 million free health screenings to athletes and trained over 300,000 health professionals and students. Healthy Athletes provides free health screenings, education, and referrals to Special Olympics athletes and individuals with IDD in an accessible, inclusive environment. Healthy Athletes screenings identify preventable health conditions and ensure athletes receive referrals to the community-based care they need to be healthy and well in their day-to-day lives.

Beyond delivering athlete screenings and referrals, Healthy Athletes provides hands-on training and real-world experience to volunteer health professions students and clinicians, equipping them with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver quality, inclusive care to individuals with IDD.

Special Olympics is also the single largest entity collecting health data on people with IDD. Governments, health care providers, universities, and think tanks use the health data we collect from more than 1.2 million digitized athlete screenings to inform decisions impacting the well-being of people with IDD.

^{*Confirmed connection to care is defined as an individual having confirmed a place to go to receive follow-up care. Care connection outcomes on referrals from Healthy Athletes are reported by Special Olympics Programs twice annually and are based on athlete and/or caregiver response.}

^{** Confirmed receipt of care is defined as an individual having confirmed they completed follow-up care appointment(s). Care connection outcomes on referrals from Healthy Athletes are reported by Special Olympics Programs twice annually and are based on athlete and/or caregiver response.}