Written by Kate Bove, Special Olympics Vermont Athlete
The week before Thanksgiving my dad and I went to Alexandria, Virginia to attend a Special Olympics Health Collaborative training. We were joined by Special Olympics Vermont Health Programs Manager, Alex! There were 16 states represented and about 45 people in various roles, including five core facilitators and members of Special Olympics International SOI as well.
When my dad and I arrived we had an hour to spare before the training began. Said hour was spent settling into our hotel room and exploring a little bit. We stayed in an old fashioned hotel, which was really cool.
The first day of the training was spent introducing ourselves and participating in an icebreaker to get things started. We played the question game and to keep us on our toes, the first person to answer the question changed each time. We also talked about the purpose of the training and the importance of full participation and inclusion. The day ended with a very interesting Ted Talk. In the video, a woman in a wheelchair talked about the time when someone told her she deserved an award because of her very existence. She went on to talk about this situation making her feel very judged and misunderstood. After the video we learned that something like this is referred to as “inspiration exploitation", and the way this can be used against someone rather than to their advantage. After we wrapped up for the day, we participated in the hotel cocktail hour, then we were on our own for the rest of the evening.
The next day some of the things we talked about were our identities as we saw them and as the rest of the world saw them, the power of inclusion and dismantling oppression, aggression, and ignorance. We also took a survey as to why we wanted to participate in the conference and the issues that were most important to us with regards to inclusion.
The third day was the hardest. As fate would have it, this was the day that the panel session happened, and we all wished it had happened at the very start rather than at the end. Looking around the room I could tell that most of us found the panel tiring and frankly, boring. Needless to say we were all glad when it was over.
One really cool thing that happened was I got to be in a room with all the other neurodivergent people, and we shared our stories about what it’s like to have different abilities. It was very helpful to know that we had all been through our share of challenges and that we had each other to lean on and learn from.
Out of all the people I met at the conference, the one I probably enjoyed the most was one of the facilitators, Tyrone. He was warm, effervescent, and had a perspective that is not often talked about. It was interesting to hear about his identity as a gay man of color, and how that has impacted his life. I hope that someday we meet again.
Overall I had fun and learned a lot from this training, and hope to attend similar events in the future.
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