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 Although Special Olympics has provided sports training and competition for persons with intellectual disabilities for 35 years, its original orientation was towards training and physical conditioning and paralleled the standards and goals used by the then-President's Council on Physical Fitness. Over time, fitness and conditioning were incorporated into individual and team sports and became less prominent as objectives unto themselves. Several developments, however, have led to a renewed focus on physical fitness and promoting better health.
There have been data and increasing awareness of the decline in physical activity and the increase in obesity in America and many other countries. Health screenings conducted during the last three Special  Olympics World Games showed that many of the athletes were overweight or obese; at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games, 56% of athletes had body mass index (BMI) greater than 24. These trends are directly linked with higher rates of diabetes and heart disease. Surveys of Special Olympics coaches (from all over the world) report a consensus that the athletes are in need of fitness training above and beyond what they receive during their sports practices.
Health Promotion is one of the recent (2000) additions to the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® circle of venues. Perhaps the nexus of all components of Healthy Athletes, it seeks to find the best ways to convey and reinforce key concepts and information to people with intellectual disabilities and has interacted with 3,000 athletes at Games and in the community.
Health Promotion venues empower and motivate athletes to make healthy lifestyle choices that will improve their long-term health by using interactive educational games and literature. Athletes are offered guides for healthy eating, lifestyle choices, fun ways to increase physical fitness as well as information (content varies with the health needs of the population) on topics such as tobacco avoidance, sun safety and skin care. Health screenings at Games include BMI and bone mineral density (BMD) measurements. Note that osteopenia and osteoporosis appear to be more frequent among people with disabilities, especially Down syndrome: download Low Bone Mineral Density among Persons with Intellectual Disabilities at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games, a poster presented at the AAMR annual meeting 1-4 June 2004, (Adobe PDF, 215K) authored by Courtney Pastorfield P.H.N.; Sigfried Pueschael M.D.; Alice Lenihan R.D.; Joan Medlen R.D.; Mark Wagner D.M.D.; Stephen Corbin D.D.S.
Health Promotion is exploring means to which year-round locally-based health programs can be implemented for persons with intellectual disabilities. Six state Special Olympics Programs have initiated pilot programs to test a diversity of designs, strategies, and partnerships to improve athlete physical fitness and lifestyle choices/habits, addressing topics such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, positive self image and quality of life. The experience gained from these pilots will guide the development of future community-based health promotion programs across the United States and around the world.
Health Promotion Objectives:
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To improve long-term health outcomes for Special Olympics athletes by giving them the information, encouragement, and facilities they need to sustain physical fitness and healthy lifestyle choices.
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To improve the quality of life and self-image of athletes.
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To provide the athletes the means by which they can work to better their own health and wellbeing.
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To allow more people with intellectual disabilities to participate in Special Olympics and to retain those athletes who are currently active.
The following form is designed for the use of Clinical Directors when administering their individual programs:
< Download the HAS form for Health Promotion (Adobe PDF, 128K) >
Health Promotion Brochures:
A series of pamphlets have been produced by Healthy Athletes, written with Special Olympics athletes in mind — see brief excerpts below. These are available to download (Adobe PDF format):
- H20 To Go
"Why Water? Drinking water helps you stay healthy and do your best in Special Olympics competitions. Drinking water also:
- Helps you digest food.
- Helps your body get vitamins and minerals out of the foods you eat.
- Keeps you cool when it's hot or you are exercising hard.
- Helps you stay in a good mood..."
< Download H20 To Go (Adobe PDF, 496K) >
- Give Me 5
"Five Fruits and Vegetables Every Day — The Healthy Athlete Way! It's never too late to change how you eat so you can feel healthy and be fit for sports. There are lots of things you can do to eat healthy. Eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables is one of them..."
< Download Give Me 5 (Adobe PDF, 468K) >
- Bone Builders
"Be good to your bones. They're yours forever. You have 206 bones in your body. That's a lot of bones to take care of! Why Do You Need Bones? Bones are important because they are the frame of your body, called your skeleton..."
< Download Bone Builders (Adobe PDF, 638K) >
- Sun Safety
"What works best to effectively block the UV rays? There are action steps that you can follow in all climates and in all locations around the world to stay safe in the sun..."
< Download Sun Safety (Adobe PDF, 740K) >
Contact Information
Salma ElGhandour, Healthy Athletes Manager
selghandour@specialolympics.org
Learn more about these components of the Healthy Athletes initiative:
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