The following is an excerpt from STAT News’ article, “How Special Olympics kickstarted the push for better disability data,” on Special Olympics’ continuous work to better healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities.
On July 1st, 1995, the world’s spotlight shone upon Yale’s football stadium in New Haven, Connecticut. It was the latest Special Olympics World Games, and the organizers had lined up big-name musicians like Hootie & the Blowfish and Boyz II Men for the opening ceremony. United States President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton even made an appearance.
Lost in the fanfare was a grim reality, however: one in six athletes had to be sent to the emergency room.
“We had a [15%] referral rate to the ER for significant oral disease with acute pain,” said Tim Shriver, chairman of the board for Special Olympics. “These are people coming off the track just finishing their soccer game.”
The organizers sussed out the health problems because they were just piloting a new program called Healthy Athletes. In the decades since the first Special Olympics in 1968, the organizers had witnessed the lack of health care options afforded to their athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities. To remedy the situation, they brought doctors to the stadium to perform routine exams—including vision, hearing, and dental screenings—and found long-overlooked maladies.
