Inclusive Sports

For more than 55 years, Special Olympics has used sport as a gateway to something much bigger than competition for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD). It has been a catalyst for shifting perceptions, opening doors, and redefining what inclusion looks like in everyday life.

Today, the Special Olympics movement extends beyond the playing field into our classrooms, workplaces, and communities around the world. This happens by training people with IDD and Special Olympics athletes to be leaders through a program called Athlete Leadership (resources.specialolympics.org/AL.) Special Olympics also offers training for people without IDD to think and behave more inclusively. Special Olympics’ impact isn’t just measured on the field of competition; it’s measured by the level of inclusion in our communities. You cannot have Athlete Leadership without Unified Leadership.

Nyasha Derera and Renee Manfredi served as co-emcees at the Global Inclusive Health Forum at Special Olympics World Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi.

“Athlete Leadership is where I was trained to be a public speaker and gain skills,” said Renee Manfredi, a longtime athlete and athlete leader within the Special Olympics movement. “But if opportunities to use those skills are never offered to me, then what’s the point of training me in those skills?”

Her question is direct and difficult to ignore. Because for people with IDD, the barrier has never been potential – it is lack of opportunity.

In the United States, only about 19% of people with IDD are employed. Not because they lack the ability or desire to work, but because of deeply rooted assumptions from people without IDD about what they can and cannot do. Those assumptions shape decisions about who gets hired, who gets promoted, and ultimately, who gets to lead.

“The decisions for where I can use my skills are actually not up to me,” Manfredi said. “Usually it’s up to other people, people without IDD.”

Across the Special Olympics movement, many athlete leaders face the same issue: opportunities are determined by others rather than by their own ambitions and abilities. Special Olympics Athlete Leadership programming was created to change that. It equips individuals with IDD with the skills, confidence, and experience to step into leadership roles as public speakers, board members, facilitators, and advocates, not just within Special Olympics but also within their communities. It shifts the narrative from participation to ownership, ensuring that athletes are not just present but influential, real leaders.

The results are clear. Among global athlete leaders who have completed leadership training, 100% say they can use those skills to be better leaders, and 95% report being respected and valued in their roles.

But that is only half of the story.

If Athlete Leadership builds the leader, Unified Leadership builds the environment where that leader can succeed.

“Athlete Leadership trains and equips me, but Unified Leadership is the real key to inclusion,” Manfredi said.

Unified Leadership (z.umn.edu/391-js1) is a training series that is co-designed and co-delivered by people with IDD. It focuses on people without IDD, challenging them to examine their assumptions, recognize bias, and create cultures where inclusion is not symbolic but real. It shifts responsibility, asking not only how individuals with IDD can grow, but how systems, mindsets, and behaviors must evolve alongside them. That shift is often the difference between being invited and being meaningfully engaged in a role where Special Olympics athletes can put their skills to use.

Manfredi recalls an experience in which she was invited to participate in a promotional event.

“We were just told where to stand for the photos and then told goodbye,” she recalled. She was there, but she wasn’t engaged. Later, as an athlete representative on a board, she experienced something deeper when given time to speak, to share feedback, and to represent her peers.

“I loved being a board member and that my voice was being heard,” she said. “But I wanted to be more involved. I felt like I could contribute more if given the chance.” It was inclusion, but not yet empowerment. That progression is at the heart of Unified Leadership. And it reflects a broader truth that inclusion is not defined by presence, but by participation and power. In the workplace, companies have overlooked the value of people with IDD for decades. Unified Leadership gives organizations the tools to move from intention to action. And when they do, the results are measurable. According to a 2018 research report from Accenture, in partnership with Disability:IN, and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), (z.umn.edu/391-js1) companies that prioritize inclusive workplaces for people with disabilities see, on average, 28% higher revenue than their peers. Employees with disabilities demonstrate stronger loyalty, with 48% lower turnover rates, helping organizations retain talent and reduce long-term costs.

The benefits extend beyond internal performance. More than 85% of consumers say they are more likely to support companies that employ people with disabilities, signaling a clear shift in expectations around corporate responsibility and inclusion, according to a 2016 guide from Autism Speaks. (z.umn.edu/391-js3)

Unlocking that opportunity requires more than good intentions or surface-level inclusion. It calls for a fundamental shift in mindset. It requires tangible actions across our communities, schools, and organizations to ensure inclusion is not just encouraged, but actively practiced.

Through its work with Harvard’s Ecological Approaches to Social Emotional Learning (EASEL) Laboratory, Special Olympics has identified three key elements that drive that mindset shift - universal dignity, empathy and perspective-taking, and courageous action.

These are everyday behaviors that people without IDD need to emulate in order to see value in others, take the time to understand different experiences, and make intentional decisions to create change.

“Unified Leadership training helps people without IDD change how they think and act. They stop doing things for us and start working with us. When athletes share their real-life stories, people really listen,” Manfredi said. “They start to see us as people, not just our disabilities.”

That human connection is what moves people beyond sympathy to empathy, and ultimately to action. It’s what transforms workplace cultures, strengthens communities, and challenges long-held assumptions about who can lead.

Athlete Leadership and Unified Leadership are complementary forces, each incomplete without the other. One builds the skills, confidence, and readiness to lead. The other ensures that the world is ready to engage with that leadership. Together, they create something powerful; an environment where leadership is shared, perspectives are valued, and inclusion is not just encouraged, but expected.

“My whole life I’ve felt like I had to change to fit in,” Manfredi said. “But Unified Leadership is the first thing that I’ve seen that asks people without IDD to change, too, and to make room for us at the table.”

“Special Olympics came and performed Unified Leadership training for us, which was an eye-opening experience,” said Helene Carmona Schmidt, United Airlines Denver ambassador vice chair. “We need to get to this point in society where everyone is included, and no one is invisible.”

As organizations and communities around the world look for ways to become more inclusive, Special Olympics offers a model, one that is proven, practical, and grounded in lived experience.

Its future requires continued investment in Athlete Leadership, ensuring people with IDD have the skills and confidence to lead. And it requires expanding Unified Leadership, ensuring that people without IDD are ready to listen, learn, and create space for others to thrive. Together, they redefine what leadership can be–diverse, collaborative, and transformative.

Or, as Manfredi said:

“Athlete Leadership gives people the skills. Unified Leadership gives them the space. When both exist together, that’s when true inclusion begins.”