Special Olympics

This book brings together academic work on Special Olympics and specifically on the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in various sport contexts and other areas of life, by ways of both empirical research and theoretically informed papers. Inclusion in sport is a topic that is mostly explored in connection with the participation of people with disabilities in general. In public debates on inclusion and sport in the global society, participation is predominantly discussed in a normative way, e.g., in connection with the campaign The Revolution is Inclusion by Special Olympics, describing it as an "all-out effort to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities". With this international collection, the authors seek to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of Special Olympics in Context of Inclusion Debates and establish a foundation for future scholarship. The chapters in this book can contribute to a new research agenda on Special Olympics, particularly participatory approaches. The chapters in this book were originally published in Sport in Society.

Florian Kiuppis is Professor of Theories, Concepts and Methods of Inclusive Education at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg, Germany and Professor of Education with a focus on Special Education / Inclusion at NLA University College, Bergen, Norway. He is also the head of the scientific committee for Special Olympics Germany. Daniela Schwarz is Postdoctoral Fellow and Teaching Advisor at Technical University Munich and Clinical Director, Special Olympics Germany, for the Health Discipline Strong Minds, and member of the scientific committee for Special Olympics Germany.

Introduction: Special Olympics in Context of Inclusion Debates 1. The community inclusion of athletes with intellectual disability: a transnational study of the impact of participating in Special Olympics 2. Engagement with Special Olympics by the general public in 17 countries world-wide 3. Parenting Special Olympians: an agenda for ethnographic engagement4. Assessing changes in the self-reported community inclusion of persons with intellectual disability: contrasts between participants in Special Olympics and non-participants 5. 'Life is team play': social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in the context of Special Olympics 6. Dream team: team sports in a community of adults with intellectual disability: How can participation in team sports develop the social competencies of people with intellectual disability? 7. The subject of Special Olympics: interrogating the inclusive potentials of a sport movement from an ableism-critical perspective