Share the Experience of Special Olympics!

There's so much going on here in Warsaw for the 2010 Special Olympics European Summer Games, I wanted to make sure you get a chance to see for yourself. You can see some of the activities on the ground in my Twitter feed, and follow the Games on their Facebook page. But you have to check out all of these amazing photos being captured by Adam Nurkiewicz. There are one or two below, be sure to check out his website and galleries. More must see stuff on You Tube embedded below, straight from the amazing Opening Ceremony of the Games!

A Healthy Partnership

What a thrill it was to sign an agreement this morning with the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA). We are so excited for this new partnership with 30 of Europe's leading experts on physical education, who have spent their careers understanding the health of Special Olympics athletes. They will be a tremendous help to us as we consider new ways to develop the abilities of our athletes through the creation of a new sports training program.

The best suggestion that came out of this session was to turn off the elevators of our 32 story hotel. Even though the person making this suggestion was on the sixth floor, it was a great reminder of the countless, simple opportunities we have every day to improve our fitness. I am thrilled that these experts and health practitioners will be partnering with us to advance sports training and competition for our athletes!

I want to share with you this wonderful song and tribute to my mother, written by Michael Sarver, which debuted at the Opening Ceremonies of the U.S. National Games this summer. I hope it will encourage you to carry on her legacy and work for people with intellectual disabilities!

2013 World Winter Games in Korea

http://www.specialolympics.org/Shriver-Announces-Korea-2013-Games.aspx


My sincere gratitude is extended to Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, my fellow Board Directors, who are in Seoul, Korea today to announce the location of the next Special Olympics World Winter Games. My brother-in-law, Governor Schwarzenegger, and actress Zhang Ziyi were also present for this amazing announcement. We are so excited that Korea will help us unite the world in 2013!

http://www.specialolympics.org/Korea_Host_World_Winter_Games.aspx

What is Your Act of Unity?

The first ever Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day is happening on September 25th and we need your help to reach 100,000 Acts of Unity! Watch this great PSA narrated by the incomparable Robin Roberts from “Good Morning America” and go to www.eksday.org to learn more. And stay tuned for some great social media tools that we’re sharing to help you spread the word about EKS Day!

The Road to Happiness

What makes us happy? In recent decades, researchers in psychology and economics have started using the tools of their profession to develop sophisticated, reliable models to answer this ageless question across countries and through time.

The emergence of positive psychology in the 1970s resulted from a desire among psychologists to emphasize individual strength and virtue in a field that had traditionally focused on treating mental illnesses and addressing emotional deficits. Since then, positive psychologists have made a lot of progress in identifying the things that bring us happiness. They have found that we experience happiness in many ways, through our emotional orientation to the past, present, and future; through the activities in which we are engaged; and in our ability to use our personal strengths and talents in work, leisure, relationships, and to contribute to something greater than ourselves.

Paralleling this development in psychology was a similar movement in the field of economics. Beginning in the 1970s, researchers started to find some truth to the axiom that “money doesn’t buy happiness” when they discovered that that nation’s level of happiness increases more slowly once it reaches a certain level of wealth. As a result, many economists believe measures of happiness complement measure of income or wealth by providing a more holistic gauge of well-being and life satisfaction.

Yesterday, one of my longtime friends, Dr. Elizabeth Dykens, Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy University Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities, led a wonderful discussion at Special Olympics about how we can use the tools of positive psychology to study the happiness of people with intellectual disabilities. She is interested in learning the ways in which people with intellectual disabilities find happiness, hope, and contentment and live engaged lives with their families and communities.

So many times people with intellectual disabilities are defined by negatives—what they do not have or cannot do relative to others—causing many of us to forget that people with intellectual disabilities can be happy, lead meaningful lives, and bring happiness and fulfillment to the lives of others. In fact many studies note that having a family member with an intellectual disability can help us to lead richer, more meaningful lives, teach us patience, tolerance, and make us more able to accept differences with others.

My own experience suggests that millions of people with intellectual disabilities around the world lead engaged and happy lives, and find tremendous joy and meaning in relationships with family and friends. You don’t have to be a researcher to know this to be true.

What is your road to happiness?

Special Olympics Camp Shriver Is Open!!

There is nowhere on earth where playing games, feeling healthy, gaining confidence, and having fun is more important. And there are no campers more inspiring than those at Camp Haiti. Wherever you are, send out a cheer! Special Olympics in Haiti is up and running!