What is inclusion? Well, it’s less an idea, and more of an action. At its core, inclusion is making an active effort to create, maintain, and encourage a welcoming environment for all, where all walks of life and perspectives are heard. For students and people with intellectual disabilities, inclusive environments are key to feeling socially accepted, and social acceptance is key to the mental and physical well-being of all, intellectual disability or not.
Some key areas where inclusion is a must? The classroom, the workplace, and most prescient to Special Olympics, in sports. At Special Olympics, it’s a core pillar of the organization to show the capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities through inclusive activities like sports. Inclusive sport gets at the heart of what inclusive action should be: tangible, social interactions that meaningfully bring the voices and faces of people with disabilities to the forefront. Sport helps bond its participants at the most intimate level, and encourages people to see each other’s faces and feelings, rather than to focus on one’s disability.
There’s inclusive action occurring all throughout the sports world, from organizations like the Rafael Nadal Foundation, to programming in schools and universities tailored to bringing diverse voices and backgrounds together. Take the experience of one Special Olympics coach in Florida: “After we came back from our first [Unified Sports event], I saw kids interacting in the hallways, either just saying hi or giving a high five. And normally, these kids wouldn’t even talk to each other.” When inclusive events and programming are held and effectively carried out, inclusive action is no longer a forced and thought-out action. It’s simply a daily occurrence, and a reminder that a welcoming environment is the best environment for everyone.
For more information on how you can practice inclusion in your daily life or bring inclusive programming to your schools, look through our extensive library below!
