Remembering Martin Sheets, Who Shined at Special Olympics

Martin Sheets, who became a face of the Special Olympics, winning more than 250 medals competing for more than 40 years in its events for people with intellectual disabilities, died on Thursday in Greensboro, N.C. He was 62.

He had dementia, his family said.

Special Olympian Representing New York City at Upcoming Games

BRONX, N.Y. — When Valerie Romero’s mother used to bring her on the sidewalk outside of their Morris Park Ave. home in the Bronx when she was a child, everyone would have to keep an eye out for her so she wouldn’t get anywhere near the street and the cars rushing by.

“We had to run and catch her,” Nancy Romero said. “If you’d bring her out here she would just run, run, run, run. In the park, too.”

Many years later, Valerie Romero is still running. And people are still trying to catch up to her.

Romero, now 44, is one of the 3,500 athletes who will compete in the Special Olympics USA Games in Mercer County, N.J., next week.

NBA Helps Spread Word to End the Word

Words are powerful things. They can be helpful or hurtful, inspiring or disheartening. And sometimes, powerful beyond what we can expect.
"Spread the Word to End the Word" is a Special Olympics campaign to eliminate use of the words "retard" and "retarded." Its goals are to promote the contributions made by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to educate the public about the damaging effects of the "R-word."
The movement to eliminate the R-word began in 2004 by the Special Olympics and its international board of directors.
The NBA has a longstanding partnership with the Special Olympics, which includes sponsorships of basketball tournaments, the creation of public service announcements and NBA player participation in Special Olympic events. Several NBA players, including Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, have signed up to be a part of the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign.

The Mother of the Special Olympics

To Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died Tuesday, people with intellectual disabilities were “our special friends.”
Her friends, now in the millions, became the world’s friends, through the Special Olympics. They became messengers in her campaign to alter the attitudes of skeptical, often callous people about the limits of their capabilities. She understood that mentally retarded children could excel at sports and life.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Faithful Service

Washington Post journalist and author, Sally Quinn founded and co-moderates On Faith, a Washington Post and Newsweek blog about religion and its impact on global life.
Thirty-five years ago, a friend of mine gave birth to a girl with Down Syndrome and immediately put her in an institution. Everyone sympathized. My friend did the right thing, we all believed, not exposing her family to the shame of a damaged child. It was the proper way to deal with the situation.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died Tuesday at age 88, changed all of our minds about that.