Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Be A Fan

Special Olympics is my passion. Special Olympics is my vocation. (How lucky am I!) I believe will all that I am that people with intellectual disabilities have value. I believe they have value to their famly, their school, their place of employment, their neighborhood and their community. I was blessed many years ago to have been told that I had to attend a Special Olympics practice as part of a college club that I belonged to. It forever changed my path. Today, I work for Special Olympics. I volunteer for Special Olympics. I call many people with intellectual disabilities my friends. I am lucky to be guardain of Max, a wonderful man with Down Syndrome. Elizabeth LOVES her Uncle Max without any regard to his differences. To her, he laughs, he can carve a great pumpkin and can make some really good dinner!! We will continue to make Special Olympics athletes a normal and regular part of her life. I hope she will be part of a new generation who will understand that words hurt. They hurt of they are said on a playground or on the Jay Leno show. Join me today to help eliminate the R-Word. Click www.r-word.org to make sign a pledge to stop using the R-word. Encourage your kids and the community around you to do the same. It is important to some very special people!!!



Special Olympics is changing attitudes where lessons of ability, acceptance and inclusion are taught on the fields of competition by our greatest teachers – the athletes

1 comment:

Unknown said...

When I was in high school, I became involved with a charity called "One to One", started by then local reporter, Geraldo Rivera. It was right after the Willowbrook institution expose'.
Volunteers spent the day at Central Park in NY with residents from the institution. There were all sorts of activities for them. I was paired witha 13yo boy with Autism. He was non verbal and my friend and I just tried not to lose him in the park. The institution was eventually closed down in favor of group homes.
I toyed with the idea of becoming a special ed teacher, but didn't want to go for 5 yrs of college and didn't think I had the patience. I ended up becoming a nurse, which I love. Little did I know that when we adopted Chris, that I would be raising my own son with Autism! I thought that was the one disability that I could not handle. Well....I guess the man upstairs had other plans for us. We have had or trials with Chris, but he has grown into a wonderful young man! He turns 19 on May 2nd. Happy Birthday Chris!
Through him we have become involved with Special Olympics, which he just loves!! Thanks to all of you who make this possible!

Proud Mom (Sue)