THE FACES OF INCLUSION

SPECIAL OLYMPICS WISCONSIN

ATHLETES & UNIFIED PARTNERS REPRESENTING TEAM WISCONSIN FOR THE 2018 SPECIAL OLYMPICS USA GAMES

2018 is a big year for Special Olympics. Fifty years ago, Special Olympics began the difficult task of making a more accepting world for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Familiar with Special Olympics as they may be, most Milwaukeeans probably don’t realize the city’s proximity to the genesis of what is now a worldwide movement that includes more than 5 million athletes in 172 countries.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics and sister of President John F. Kennedy, initiated the movement when she held the first Special Olympics International Summer Games at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 20, 1968. Kennedy Shriver’s sister Rosemary lived most of her life at St. Coletta of Wisconsin in Jefferson, and her life with an intellectual disability is often credited as inspiring the creation of Special Olympics. The first Wisconsin state event took place in West Allis in 1969, just a year after those first fateful Special Olympics Games in Chicago.

Now, Special Olympics is a full-scale Inclusion Revolution.

“Let us begin the Olympics,” Kennedy Shriver said 50 years ago. “Let us begin the next 50 years of Special Olympics,” we say now.

Check out Special Olympics Wisconsin and be inspired! You are invited to attend a free, 45-minute Revealing the Champion mission tour. Call Claire at 262.241.7786.