KARACHI: Special Olympics Pakistan is celebrating the fourth annual Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day to pay tribute to the founder of the Special Olympics world body here on Sept 18 at the National Sailing Centre in Clifton.
Athletes from special schools will be demonstrating their skills in various sports along with their unified partners. The theme of the day is “Play Unified to Live Unified”.
Activities for athletes aged between two to seven years will be held on the day including unified basketball, cricket, table tennis and swimming.
Shriver believed that if people with intellectual disabilities were given the same opportunities and experiences as everyone else, they could accomplish far more than anyone ever thought possible.
Shriver put that vision into action in 1962 by inviting young people with intellectual disabilities to a summer day camp she hosted in her backyard.
The goal was to explore the children’s skills in a variety of sports and physical activities. The idea behind that first Camp Shriver began to grow.
In July 1968, the first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, US and now about 170 countries are part of the movement.
Published in Dawn, September 2nd , 2014
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