Special Olympics: For Who? (I)
Published March 22, 2009 @ 12:42AM PT
I've been really troubled by President Obama's remark about the Special Olympics on last Thursday's Tonight Show:
Chatting with the host, Jay Leno, the president said he had been practicing at the White House bowling alley and rolled a 129. “It was like the Special Olympics or something,” Mr. Obama said.
The President has apologized, the March 20th New York Times notes, but I don't think his very unfortunate remark is going to be forgotten. Sullivan at Left Brain/Right Brain has commented further on the President's gaffe and also on the Special Olympics' media campaign to eliminate the use of the r-word.
Amid all these considerations about words which (to quote Tim Shriver, the chairman of the Special Olympics) can "'hurt'" and which "'do matter,'" I've been thinking about some other questions raised about the Special Olympics by Canadian journalist Lauren McKeon in an article in This Magazine (May-June 2008), Why won't you let me play?: Is the Special Olympics discriminating against the kids it's supposed to help?. McKeon's sister, Carol, who is developmentally disabled, played soccer in Challenge League in Ontario, which is "...affiliated with, but not fully integrated into, Special Olympics Canada (SOC)." In Challenge League, Carol did pretty much what Jim and I hoped Charlie would learn from the numerous special needs sports leagues/programs that we attempted to enroll him in over the years:
Carol found not only acceptance but friendship and a chance to simply be herself. None of her teammates cared that for that first year she was afraid to “get in the game.” They also didn’t care that some players used walkers or wheelchairs, that two or three always ran the wrong way, or that inevitably one player tried to spend the game picking dandelions or doing gymnastics. They were a team and they were having fun.
Not that things were idyllic. There were bullies and more skilled athletes who, at times, could dominate the game. And the other coaches and I did spend a lot of time encouraging players to run the right way, kick the ball and stop picking flowers: next to fun, learning the fundamentals of the game and developing those skills were key. But we didn’t keep score and what seemed to matter most was that those kids who spent so much time on the outside were finally on the inside.
Ok, we could do without the bullying (we could all do without the bullying). But for Charlie (and, when I look back on my elementary school P.E. days of ducking when the ball was hit in my direction and then running as fast as I dared to find the ball I could never catch, me and all those non-sports-minded kids), sports activities that were about effort and trying and learning, about fitness and playing "for the fun of it" and "going at your own pace": These have been the best activities, where Charlie has learned the most and enjoyed himself the most. Indeed, when Charlie was 5 and playing in a Challenger League in a very suburban New Jersey suburb, his coach (whose daughter played on a "regular" little league team and whose son was on Charlie's team) noted that he preferred the Challenger League because "this is what it's about, not the competition, just going out and playing ball and having a good time."
But, as McKeon notes, too often it seems that there's a split between Special Olympics as providing a venue for "differently able" athletes to learn to play sports and be active, and the highest-ranked athletes who compete in the top levels of competition, and not necessarily a corresponding divying up of resources.
Who are the Special Olympics for?
There'll be more discussion about this topic in another post later today tomorrow.
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Comments (22)
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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End the Perpetuation of Pity
I feel like the apology doesn't really matter much: in an unguarded moment, this is what he said. Now we know how he feels (apologies in hindsight were a must, their sincerity is almost irrelevant). The Special Olympics are apparently not serious, more like a joke or maybe an 'aww, how nice 'those people' get to have something too.' And the athletes are apparently all inept bumbling, weirdly-moving things you laugh at, at their best even worse than Obama at his clumsiest worst.
Posted by Norah vd Stel on 03/22/2009 @ 02:23AM PT
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Wow. That was a pretty sobering article by Ms. McKeon.
Besides the bureaucratic aspects, which I am still digesting, I'm not completely sure that a competitive aspect has to be there to be enjoyable or worthwhile.
If some of the participants are not given equal opportunity to play, that doesn't seem right--even in our regular youth league, every child gets play time, and in the younger leagues, some of the kids miss the ball, run in the wrong direction and sometimes decide to pick daisies out of the playing field. At the end of the game, everybody gets a little encouragement goodie and at the end of season--a teeshirt and trophy. We don't have anyone going to international events, but all the kids seem to have a good time.
Posted by Regina Claypool-Frey on 03/22/2009 @ 04:46AM PT
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Fitness and effort over competition and winning---that's certainly what we think needs to be stressed in any athletic endeavors for Charlie!
Posted by Kristina Chew on 03/22/2009 @ 09:11AM PT
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Who really cares? People who stick on issues like this are the reason we are all stuck in the past.
I thought it was funny. 129 is pretty special olympic style. It's not like they care, they don't even know what he meant.
Move on people.
Posted by James Michael on 03/22/2009 @ 02:36PM PT
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Wow, that's just mind-bogglingly ignorant!
You seem to think that people with mental retardation are vegetables without thoughts and feelings.
Posted by G G on 03/24/2009 @ 09:24PM PT
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My teenage son bowls once a week with his after-school program. He pushes the ball so gently down the lane, that it almost looks like it won't make it to the pins. We stand there and watch as it slowly rolls along, and bumps once or twice against the alley guards which are always up, and finally usually hits a few pins by pure chance. It is so cute.
The whole point of Special Olympics is that it gives people a chance to compete who would not be able to compete at the Olympics level. And the reason why we have local T-ball and soccer leagues for kids with handicaps is for the same reason -- kids who would have a hard time in the regular leagues can play a their own level -- frankly, a lower level. Some of the kids can hit a thrown ball, some can hit off of a T, some need hand-over-hand assistance. Some can understand the rules of the game, some need specific directions such as when it's time to run to the next base. I love these leagues.
There are some highly competent Special Olympics athletes. I bet there are some great bowlers with various disabilities (although I don't think the Special Olympics has bowling -- I could be wrong). I feel sure that our President knows that some athletes with disabilities are very competent. I take no offense from his remark.
Posted by Twyla Ramos on 03/22/2009 @ 03:13PM PT
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although I don't think the Special Olympics has bowling
Yep. Bowling is one of the 30 Special Olympics sports.
http://www.specialolympics.org/sports.aspx
Posted by Regina Claypool-Frey on 03/22/2009 @ 04:39PM PT
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Oh, thanks for correcting me on this!
Posted by Twyla Ramos on 03/22/2009 @ 07:51PM PT
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Obama should hold a special bowling tournament and invite all the special Olympians for a couple of games and they can give him a few tips to help his game then everyone can be happy again?!
Posted by Carla Johnson on 03/22/2009 @ 08:57PM PT
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Apparently Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics competitor who has bowled three perfect 300 games, has challenged the President to bowl.
http://www.tmz.com/2009/03/20/special-olympics-champ-to-barack-bring-it-on/2
Posted by Kristina Chew on 03/22/2009 @ 09:03PM PT
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That's a good idea, Carla!
Posted by Twyla Ramos on 03/22/2009 @ 09:49PM PT
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According to a Michigan paper, McConiughey has bowled *five* 300 games. He would reduce Obama and his pathetic 129 to rubble.
Though I haven't bowled in years, my own lifetime high was 182. Take that, Mr. President!
Posted by Mark Romoser on 03/23/2009 @ 01:38PM PT
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That is definitely a good idea!
Posted by A J on 03/23/2009 @ 04:21PM PT
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Wow, I look like a 'Special Olympics' bowler, means I recognize they are handicaped and when I bowl, it looks like I am handicaped. That said, some Special Olympic folks are highly functioning individuals that bowl 300 three times in a row. What is the problem recognizing both qualities of Special Oylimic people?
Bottom line, it was not the best choice of metaphor for being a bad bowler, but unlike the last president, the metaphor was used correctly and with some humility. If I were a Special Olymian, I would sure like being likened to President Obama. Maybe Obama will now relate to how discrimination and supermacisist actitudes are painful to whoever they touch and how he 'screwed up' again.
I sure like having someone smarter than me as president... I hope we all learn about the value of life more by seeing ourselves, our culture, in Obama's use of metaphor. We do better when we do not feel better than anyone else. This pluralistic point of view
Nobody flys better than the birds, and I can't even get off the ground.
Nobody smells better than the dogs, they can smell better than humans see.
Nobody lives in water and swims better than fish.
Point is we all have things we can do and we are better at being ourselves than anyone else.
Posted by Casey Reed on 03/22/2009 @ 09:39PM PT
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Everybody says this when they are embarrassed about their own performance in sports. Maybe not so much now, though. Of course, it is never said in the presence of someone with a disability, but it is said among able-bodied folks as a little cover up when they fall down or something. I know it's in poor taste, but these comments are taking themselves much too seriously. The president has no bad feelings towards special olympiads, and if you think he does, then you have too much time on your hands. There are much better things to work on than getting your feelings hurt. Lighten up.
Posted by CherokeeGirl for Change on 03/23/2009 @ 12:06PM PT
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I am not good at any sports, but I enjoy participating in them if they're strictly for fun.... volleyball, softball, bowling, etc. NEVER would I EVER try to marginalize someone with a physical or mental disability by saying that my poor performance in a particular sport in ANY WAY compared to their efforts.
The offhand statement of the President, in an attempt to be FUNNY, revealed how he really feels. He should make a public apology to every Special Olympian and their parents and supporters; not simply a private apology to Mr. Shriver, who then relayed it to the public. Doing that, shows not only the President's insensitivity in making the remark, but his cowardice in not owning up to it and making a pledge to change his way of thinking and speaking.
This isn't something that he should ignore, because it will fester and will not be forgotten.
Posted by K H on 03/28/2009 @ 08:44AM PT
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More people compete in Special Olympics than just mentally retarded people! I have a traumatic brain injury, with memory difficulties, seizures, and partial left side hemiparysis, but I competed in Special Olympics bowling 3 different years with both other brain-injured adults of varying intelligence, retarded people, wheelchair bound individuals, and other handicaps. Some people who compete in Special Olympics are above average intelligence, like myself and others I know, but have physical and/or mental handicaps which aren't in the realm of retardedness!
Posted by M F on 03/26/2009 @ 08:11PM PT
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The president definitely messed up, but like others, he deserves forgiveness. Perhaps because I have a little too much faith in him, but I believe that he has or will reflect on this comment, its implications and the assumptions he reinforced and take it to heart. He seems like a smart dude that cares about that sort of thing, which already goes against our culture of ableism. Language is deeply ingrained...How often have you heard compassionate people use lame as a pejorative term?
Posted by L K on 03/27/2009 @ 05:07PM PT
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As a mom of a child with Downs Syndrome, I am not offended. Poeple say stuff all the time that they are not really aware of. It's how people treat my daughter, and what they teach their children, and what bills the President might sign that matters. If I took offense every time I heard the word "retarded" or "moron" or even when an older person uses the term "mongaloid", I would be angry every day. Life is just too short to police the world. I'm sure Pres. Obama would treat my daughter like he would any other child, because he seems like a nice, loving man to his own children. That's good enough for me. If we truely look at ourselves, throughout the whole of our own lives, we will find that we have said something that supports the idea that each and everyone of us is guilty of doing exactly the same. If you think you never have, you better think again. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone deserves forgiveness. Even the President.
Posted by brenda hoffman on 03/27/2009 @ 09:59PM PT
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It's obvious his subconscious feelings towards handicapped people, which reveal his true thoughts, though. If he truly held handicapped individuals in the same category as able-bodied and nonmentally handicapped people, that thought, subconscious or otherwise, would not have been there! If one of his children acquired a disability by some means, at birth, being hit by a car, disease, whatever, then he would more likely not have said what he did!
Posted by M F on 03/28/2009 @ 04:31AM PT
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Exactly, Matthew! Our true feelings are revealed in unguarded moments. His statement showed his insensitivity. There is always the possibility of redemption, but not until he publicly acknowledges his thoughtless remark and asks for the forgiveness of those who his words hurt. Just calling Tim Shriver isn't going to cut it. It wasn't Tim Shriver he belittled.
Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody can change their prejudices. But they have to own up to them before they can put them behind them.
Posted by K H on 03/28/2009 @ 08:49AM PT
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Having a child with autism, we sometimes laugh about the challenges face everyday (we have to, to keep our sanity). But when comments come from someone who is not dealing with same situation it is hurtful. The stares are a whole different story. I do think what Pres. Obama said was a bit offensive but I forgive him. Maybe he needs to live in my shoes for one day to get a better understanding and be more sensitive about this issue.
Posted by m tolentino on 03/29/2009 @ 07:34AM PT
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