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Dr. María Teresa Barán Wasilchuk serves as the Minister of Health in Paraguay. Since taking office, she has made inclusive health a national priority, driving significant progress in transforming both practices and policies to better serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). 

Dr. Shamsiya Murat has been involved with Special Olympics since 2015, and in that time, she’s played a variety of important roles in initiatives aimed at improving healthcare access and care for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families.  

Dr Teck-Hock Toh, is a seasoned pediatrician committed to ensuring that all children – regardless of disability status – receive the access and support they need to live a healthy life and thrive in school and beyond. In 2006, he founded the Agape Center, a one-stop children’s developmental clinic in Sarawak, Malaysia aimed at early diagnosis detection and early childhood intervention (ECI).

Dr. Yousef Alawadhi is a dentist and a Regional Clinical Advisor for Special Olympics Kuwait. He has been involved in the Special Olympics movement since 2019 after first attending the World Games in Abu Dhabi. Following the Games, he established Special Olympics Kuwait’s first Special Olympics Healthy Athletes discipline, Special Olympics Special Smiles®. In the 6 years since, Dr. Alawadhi helped expand the scope of healthcare available to athletes, leading to the establishment of seven health disciplines within Special Olympics Kuwait.

Ulster University in Northern Ireland has supported and strengthened numerous aspects of Special Olympics Ireland health programming since 2013, focusing on prevention, fitness, and family education. Through this work, Ulster has been an advocate for improving healthcare access for Special Olympics athletes and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through educating and training students and forging community-based partnerships. 

Dr. Simeon Afolabi is an audiologist with over 25 years of experience in public and private sectors across Nigeria. As the Founder and CEO of BSA Speech and Language Centre and a Healthy Hearing Clinical Director for Special Olympics Nigeria, he has significantly improved access to inclusive audiology services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Through his work with Special Olympics Healthy Athletes®, he has organized over 30 Healthy Hearing screenings across rural and urban communities in five of Nigeria’s six geopolitical regions.

In this episode, host Novie Craven welcomes Special Olympics Senior Manager of Communications and podcast producer Alex Padalino and Special Olympics Senior Director of Global Strategic Partnerships Chris Bence to share the story behind the show’s creation, its impact and the role of partnership in building a platform for inclusion.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be in “The Room Where It Happens”? Novie sits down with Broadway’s JJ Niemann to find out!Download the Transcript