uga-special-olympics-blog - Tumblr blog

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Good luck to @aaronmurray11 and @alynch1788 in the NFL Draft! These UGA athletes doubled as dedicated Special Olympics volunteers during their time as bulldawgs. We wish you the best, and thank you for all the time and attention you gave our athletes!!! 🐾 #godawgs #dawgsintheNFL #specialolympics (at Foley Field)

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If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. - Anatole France

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Congratulations to our Volunteer of the Year, Melissa Markhardt!Here she is giving her buddy Austin a pep talk at the annual Home Runs for Hometown Rivals baseball game ❤️⚾️ #specialolympics #uga (at Butts-Mehre training facility 🏈)

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Special Olympics at UGA is a student organization on campus that assists the local Special Olympics program here in Athens. Students and staff, including Foo...

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There’s something that kind-hearted and well-meaning people say that can hurt. Well… there are lots of things like that, but today I want to talk about the anti-label statements. 

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“When you attend a Special Olympics Games…and watch the sheer joy on faces – not just of the athletes, but more overwhelmingly among spectators – you begin to realize there is much more at work than simply athletic competition. On one hand, it is the story of years of tragedy transformed into pure joy, driven by the beauty of sheer effort. But at the same time, it is a profound statement of inclusion – that everybody matters, everybody counts, every life has value, and every person has worth.”

Nelson Mandela

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You don't have to aim the word directly at me to hurt me and millions of others like me who live with an intellectual disability....

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Busting a move at our annual baseball game! 

(Moved inside due to inclement weather)

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Football autographed by UGA football head coach Mark Richt! This was auctioned off at out Special Olympics annual baseball game!

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There was a story going around about the Special Olympics. For the hundred-yard dash, there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at the starting line and, at the sound of the gun, they took off. But one little boy didn’t get very far. He stumbled and fell and hurt his knee and began to cry. The other eight children heard the boy crying. They slowed down, turned around, and ran back to him—every one of them ran back to him. The little boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked their arms together and joyfully walked to the finish line. They all finished the race at the same time. and when they did, everyone in the stadium stood up and clapped and whistled and cheered for a long, long time. And you know why? Because deep down we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win, too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.

Mr. Rogers (via theworldaccordingtomisterrogers)

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One of our athletes goofing off with UGA quarterback Aaron Murray in our annual baseball game!

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The following is a guest post in the form of an open letter from Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens to Ann Coulter after this tweet during last night’s Presidential debate.

Dear Ann Coulter,

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow.  So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow.  I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you.  In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.

Come join us someday at Special Olympics.  See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

A friend you haven’t made yet, John Franklin Stephens Global Messenger Special Olympics Virginia

via Special Olympics