[nabs-l] A weird question that came up for me recently.

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi,

I participated in Special Olympics when I was a kid.  It's for people
of all ages with physical or mental disabilities, there's nothing that
says physically disabled people have to participate in the paralympic
games and can't do Special Olympics.  The difference between them is
not that one is for people with mental disabilities and the other
physical, it's really that in Special Olympics everyone is considered
a winner and you really don't need to be trained too hard to
participate.  Paralympic athletes train for competetive level sports
and are the best they can be at them in spite of their disabilities.
They're just two different levels of athletecism.

If you're not a paralympic athlete but still like sports and competing
for fun Special Olympics is okay.  I personally had a problem with it
though because I didn't feel like it was fair for me to compete
against some of the people in my races.  I remember going to a swim
meet when I was ten or eleven years old and this lady and her older
son who was in my race came over and started talking to my mom like
they knew exactly who she was.  I found out that he was the brother of
someone my mom dated in high school and he had Down Syndrome.  I just
didn't feel right beating out people like that, or others who had to
have their coaches walk along the side of the pool to remind them to
flip turn or swim another lap for relays while I was only visually
impaired and was otherwise physically and mentally not disabled.  I
miss swimming so much, but I stopped.  I think you'd have to weigh out
whether or not you'd be bothered over something like that or not, but
I wouldn't take your teacher wanting you to do Special Olympics as an
insult.  He's probably just trying to give you another outlet for
sports.

On 2/16/13, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
> Good morning, John,
>
> Last time I checked, at least in ol' Sighty's eyes, blind people are
> physically handicapped.
> Don't be insulted, it's the reality that surrounds you.
> Car12:29 PM 2/16/2013, John Moore wrote:
>>I do not know if I hsould take this as an insult or as advice,
>>because I've heard two different things. I'm in an Intro to Fitness
>>class that is required for my degree and the professor happens to
>>volunteer for the Special Olympics. I have heard all my life that we
>>cannot be in the Special Olympics, as that is apparently for people
>>with intellectual disabilities. However, he told me that it is not
>>just for people with said disabilities, even when I told him about
>>the Paralympics. He said he would try to helo me start participating
>>in Special Olympics events. I'm ont sure if I should feel insulted
>>or not; if it turns out that people who have physical disabilities
>>can participate in certain events, I'd start doing it. But I don't
>>know what to think becasue he told me that all the disabilities were
>>physical ones. It is weird, I know. What do you all think?
>>_______________________________________________
>>nabs-l mailing list
>>nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/carlymih%40comcast.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/crazy4clarinet104%40gmail.com
>


-- 
Kaiti