Special Olympics Nevada Delegates Advocate on Capitol Hill

Special Olympics athletes, program leaders, Unified Partners and family members from 39 states and the District of Columbia converged on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Feb. 15, for Special Olympics’ 15th annual “Capitol Hill Day.”

Special Olympics athletes from across the nation held more than 250 face-to-face meetings with members of Congress in both the House and Senate, challenging and inviting their elected officials to partner with them to achieve the goals of expanding Special Olympics Unified Sports and Unified Champion Schools programming throughout the U.S., and to end health care disparities and discrimination against persons with intellectual disabilities.

Local Special Olympics athlete Hannah Schieferstein of Henderson, Nev., joined Special Olympics Nevada COO Ilisa Kessler to meet with Senator Dean Heller, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Congresswoman Jacky Rosen, Congressman Mark Amodei and a representative from the office of Congresswoman Dina Titus.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also participated in an event held to launch Capitol Hill Day, the first time in the 15-year history of the Day that a Secretary of Education has participated. Secretary DeVos heard first-hand from athletes and family members about the impact Special Olympics has made in their lives and why continued federal support is critical to Special Olympics’ work in education and schools. Secretary DeVos pledged her support to partner with Special Olympics’ to make its vision of expanding Unified Champion Schools and inclusive schools a reality. Secretary DeVos told attendees: “I am proud to stand beside you as a partner in support of Special Olympics and its Unified Champion Schools, an important program that promotes leadership and empowers students to be agents of change.”

Special Olympics athletes, serving as self-advocates, educated lawmakers and their staff about the significant consequences that arise from the stigma and stereotypes faced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They described how that impacts their lives in the areas of sports, health care and education. The goals of Capitol Hill Day were to effectively convey the high impact and cost-effectiveness of Special Olympics’ evidence-based programming that addresses these issues, to educate lawmakers and to secure continued support from legislators.

“No one can better articulate a vision for how America can become a more inclusive nation or demonstrate what it means to unite and come together than the athletes and Unified Partners of Special Olympics” said Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics. “We support the preservation of laws that guarantee the rights and full participation and integration of people with intellectual disabilities into our society.”

In more than 4,400 Unified Champion Schools across the country, Special Olympics has trained and mobilized youth leaders and educators to create more inclusive schools by including students with intellectual disabilities in all aspects of school life. Students with and without intellectual disabilities are also playing and competing together, on the same team, through Special Olympics Unified Sports. These experiences are helping to increase acceptance of all abilities to classrooms across the country, and are reducing stigma and bullying. Health exams, treatment and referrals (vision, hearing, dentistry, podiatry, and mobility), and education, including nutrition, are being provided to Special Olympics athletes at Games and competitions to ensure their health on the playing field. Thousands of volunteers, staff and clinical practitioners are providing essential health care that is otherwise often unavailable to people with intellectual disabilities due to the lack of trained health care providers and facilities. These volunteers are learning new skills that are helping the medical community to reach people with intellectual disabilities in their own communities with critical health care.