Marisol is a 19-year-old from La Paz, Bolivia and is studying at the Bolivian Catholic University. Marisol has been a Special Olympics athlete for many years competing in swimming as well as rhythmic gymnastics. In 2019, she represented Bolivia at the World Games in Abu Dhabi, where she earned medals in rhythmic gymnastics! Marisol is a proud member of the Unified Generation as she believes Special Olympics creates strong friendships without barriers. She believes her involvement with Special Olympics has both fostered a sense of perseverance and instilled within her a desire to amplify the voices of those who are often not listened to.

Natalia is a 17-year-old from La Paz, Bolivia. She studies at ACS Calvert and is a volunteer with Special Olympics. In 2020, Natalia began her work with Special Olympics at the height of the pandemic to lessen the overwhelming sense of isolation plenty of athletes reported feeling. She was able to accomplish this by creating the “Forming Friendships” group in her community, where athletes could meet weekly on Zoom to complete different activities together. Over the past two years, Natalia’s volunteer work has largely been about supporting athletes and promoting social inclusion of youth with ID. Natalia is passionate about this work. She is a proud member of the Unified Generation and is dedicated to the mission of Special Olympics.
Marisol and Natalia noticed that women are frequently discriminated against in their community. They also noticed that in addition to this experienced discrimination, there is a lack of information regarding women’s hygiene, violence towards women, and the low self-esteem experienced because of bullying. Marisol and Natalia were inspired by women throughout history who led movements for change, they found it necessary to lead their own movement in their community, with an emphasis on women with Intellectual Disabilities.
Marisol and Natalia decided to help end this discrimination, they were going to host a workshop for 15 Unified Pairs, that will cover four theoretical and practical topics including; lessons on identity and self-esteem, bullying, female hygiene, and time management. They planned to make these workshops and the information public by posting on social media to reach a broader audience outside of the 15 Unified Pairs in the workshop!
Marisol and Natalia led a successful workshop where they were able to teach women about identity and self-esteem, ending bullying, hygiene, and time management! Through this workshop, Marisol and Natalia were also able to gain support and raise awareness to the male population as well. So that these men can be allies to women. Marisol and Natalia also learned a lot through the workshops they conducted. They enjoyed learning about the experiences of the Special Olympics Athletes and Unified Pairs that were involved, while also building trust and forming new friendships. They specifically remember and were inspired by the closing activity of their last workshop where they made a collage from recycled magazines about how they felt in the past and their vision for the future. Marisol and Natalia loved seeing the transformation of how their participants once felt about themselves, versus how they feel about themselves currently and where they see themselves going in the future!

Marisol and Natalia were, at first, challenged by their project, this was their first time having to plan, organize, strategize, and communicate the logistics of an event of this scale. However, as time went on, they were able to get accustomed to this change and learn how to problem-solve efficiently. Marisol and Natalia were most proud of the fact that they were able to facilitate an event, that was relevant to the issues that their community was facing. They were proud that they were able to educate and empower women, with and without disabilities, to make positive changes in their community! The two plan to continue to promote inclusion by utilizing social media to continue to promote and spread their message. They also chose a volunteer to continue the facilitation of Empoderamiento Hacia la Incusion for the next 8 months!