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Special Olympics and Sesame Workshop Partner To Show That Children with Mental Retardation Can Lead Active, Fulfilling Lives
Anchorage, AK – Special Olympics and Sesame Workshop announced today a multi-year partnership that will help increase acceptance of children with mental retardation around the world and help them reach their highest potential. The partnership will develop educational resources for parents of children with mental retardation, professional caregivers, educators, and society at large, focusing on what children with mental retardation can achieve.
Over the next three years, Special Olympics and Sesame Workshop will work hand-in-hand to create early childhood development instructional materials. Each of the resources will deliver a message that children with mental retardation, regardless of their level of ability, can lead full and active lives in their communities and will remind society that the disability does not define the person.
"The partnership between Special Olympics and Sesame Workshop will enable us to reach the parents of children with mental retardation and support them in the early stages by providing fun and engaging ways to promote physical and social development of their child," said Timothy P. Shriver, President and CEO of Special Olympics, Inc. "We hope to eliminate barriers that children with mental retardation must overcome when people underestimate and exclude them."
"Both organizations share similar global missions which focus on reaching the under-served, creating solutions, and encouraging inclusion," said Sesame Workshop’s President and CEO Gary E. Knell. "This partnership is about enhancing the lives of children across various degrees of mental retardation so each child reaches her optimal level of development."
The announcement of the partnership occurred at the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Anchorage, AK, Special Olympics’ largest sporting event in the world this year. Sesame Street’s walkaround Elmo visited Special Olympics Town and was greeted by children of the Anchorage community.
More than 2,000 athletes and coaches from approximately 80 counties traveled to Anchorage, Alaska to participate in the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games from March 4-11. Special Olympics athletes are competing in seven different winter sports: cross country skiing, Alpine skiing, speed skating, figure skating, floor hockey, snowshoe racing and snowboarding. Similar in size to the last Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan, the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games will be the largest sporting event ever held in the history of Alaska.
Sesame Workshop, a not-for-profit educational organization, creates innovative and engaging content to help all children reach their highest potential. For more than 30 years, the Workshop has been a global pioneer in educating and entertaining children through multiple media. The organization grounds its work in research to understand how media help children learn, develop and grow. Best known as the creators of Sesame Street and Dragon Tales airing on PBS, the Workshop continues to break new ground with Noggin, the only 24-hour kids’ thinking channel. Find the Workshop online at www.sesameworkshop.org.
Special Olympics is an international year-round program of sports training and competition for individuals with mental retardation. More than one million athletes in over 160 countries train and compete in 26 Olympic-type summer and winter sports. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics provides people with mental retardation continuing opportunities to develop fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy as they participate in the sharing of gifts and friendship with other athletes, their families and the community. There is no cost to participate in Special Olympics.
Contact:
Kirsten Suto
Special Olympics, Inc.
(202) 824-0303
Susan Wolfe
Sesame Workshop
(212) 875-6459