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"With sports as the foundation, the three component model offers a unique combination of effective activities that equip young people with tools and training to create sports, classroom and school climates of acceptance. These are school climates where students with disabilities feel welcome and are routinely included in, and feel a part of, all activities, opportunities and functions."
~Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools
The Special Olympics has influenced local communities worldwide to partner with them. Several school districts have adopted the event into their wide range of extracurricular activities. The Val Verde Unified School District is one of many joining this inclusive movement.
Photos courtesy of the Val Verde Special Education Department
The Special Olympics partnership with the district allows both abled and disabled kids to participate in the Special Village sports day event. Here volunteers can have an engaging experience with the athletes. Support from coaches and parents boost self esteem, giving the athletes a prideful feeling.
"Is there any evidence of positive changes in the attitudes of the Athletes?"
~Makayla Wilbanks during an interview with Sarah Nesvold
"Yes! They are so excited for this event and look forward to it all year. I think the most impactful change we’ve seen is the growth in their confidence! This event provides them the chance to show off their abilities and what they can do instead of what they can’t do because of their disabilities."
~Sarah Nesvold, Coordinator of the Val Verde Special Education Department
Local relationships between families can also be formed. Parents that often feel isolated when it comes to caring for their child can have a place to relate and socialize with other parents with a similar circumstance.
"Definitely. This event has helped to support inclusivity throughout our district. Non-disabled peers compete alongside students with special needs as teammates fostering friendships that last beyond the games. Many, many students and staff volunteers from sites such as cheerleading squads, basketball teams, and ASB work together to support the day and celebrate all the student-athletes as they compete! From this, we have seen an increase in students and staff requesting to get more involved in activities throughout the school year."
~Sarah Nesvold, Coordinator of the Val Verde Special Education Department
"Have you noticed a positive shift in attitudes in those who volunteer, toward the intellectually disabled?"
~Makayla Wilbanks during an interview with Sarah Nesvold
"As a Special Olympics coach, how would you describe the positive impact that this program has had on the athletes?"
~Ayriawna Emanuel during an interview with Michelle Perryman
"Well, kind of like we talked about before, it’s the pride you see that comes out of them and the happiness and the smiles when they see that everybody’s there to watch them. Whether it’s the opening ceremonies, I mean our kiddos that get to carry the torch or be on the stage, they just light up and just the sense of pride that they have, that they get to do something like that, you know it’s not something they always get to do. So, they just are so happy to be there. They love the audience. I think the most important thing is that it gives that opportunity for our volunteers, our non-disabled volunteers, to come alongside them because that carries on onto campus after the Special Olympics are over. So they’re working together while they’re training, they’re working together before the event, and two weeks later it’s like “oh, hi Johnny!” Now they know each other and that’s something that we don’t always get the opportunity to do. As teachers, as coaches, we try to create those relationships throughout the year. We try to create bonds between our disabled students and non-disabled students but this is something that really brings them together and creates that bond"
~Michelle Perryman, Special Education Teacher & Executive Director of the Val Verde Special Games
Photos Courtesy of the Val Verde Special Education Department
"Again, it’s kind of your lense or the way you’re looking at this. So...if you’re going to look at these kids as disabled, well then that’s what you’re going to see. You can also look and say wow, they can do a lot of what we can do. They have talents, they have abilities. I think it’s kind of an opportunity to highlight what they are able to do. They can play basketball with their friends. I have a student that I said for forever, he’s trained for American Ninja Warrior and he gets to go there and he gets to show it! He’s so athletic. But, he wouldn’t have that opportunity. So, instead of showing how different they are, I think it shows how similar they are and that they can do the same things as their typically developing peers."
~Michelle Perryman, Special Education Teacher & Executive Director of the Val Verde Special Games
"Do you believe that the Special Olympics might promote and reinforce stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities due to the event being segregated?"
~Ayriawna Emanuel during an interview with Michelle Perryman
"From your hands-on experience, have you found that the Special Olympics has helped bring families of the athletes closer together?"
~Ayriawna Emanuel during an interview with Michelle Perryman
"Yes, it’s an opportunity for everyone to come together. They get to meet each other, they get to talk to each other, and that’s not something that always happens. I was talking to one of our family members afterward, probably like a month after, and she was saying how she always kind of feels isolated. She’s a single mom and she feels isolated and she feels like she’s the only one with a student with a severe disability, but at that event, she was able to meet people and just see the population. And, it was bigger than she ever thought. She felt included and she didn’t feel alienated."
~Michelle Perryman, Special Education Teacher & Executive Director of the Val Verde Special Games
Transcript of our interview with Sarah Nesvold, Coordinator of the Val Verde Special Education Department, and Michelle Perryman, Special Education Teacher & Executive Director of the Val Verde Special Games.