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Intellectually disabled athletes link up online to create new opportunities
The pandemic is forcing people to exercise a high degree of flexibility in how they go about their activities, and intellectually disabled athletes are no exception.
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A screen displays participants in an online discussion aimed at supporting intellectually disabled people held by the Surabaya chapter of the Youth Club SoIna. (JP/SOina East Java chapter)
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span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Indonesia Special Olympics (SOIna) chairman Warsito Ellwein said the current pandemic was forcing people to exercise a high degree of flexibility in how they do things, including sporting activities for intellectually disabled people.
That statement was part of the chairman’s opening speech during the SOIna National Special Meeting, held virtually on Sunday. As many as 100 participants attended the meeting, including athlete representatives, SOIna central and branch members and a representative from the Asia Pacific regional Special Olympics.
Warsito, who attended from Germany, admired the spirit of all athletes as they were very passionate about doing things online during the pandemic. He also noted a tremendous amount of solidarity between all stakeholders.
“This has been a blessing in disguise for us here as we are witnessing an enormous growth of solidarity between all stakeholders. That is why we could shout out loud that we can do anything through great solidarity and togetherness,” Warsito said.
He said there were three goals the organization had been working on for intellectually disabled athletes. The first was to create a safe and comfortable space where they could explore their capabilities. The second was to encourage them to become athletes and the third was to encourage them to take the benefits from today’s latest science to support their sporting activities.
Commenting on this, Mutiara Fahira Maharani, one of the athletes, praised the opportunity that had been given to her and fellow athletes. Mutiara, a bowler, said she was currently practicing under direct supervision of her coaches from SOIna’s West Java branch.
Kristijani Kirana of SOIna’s West Java branch praised the significant boost of independence she had been witnessing in Mutiara’s career and capabilities from the moment she took up the challenge as an intellectually disabled athlete.
“We also praise the government’s support, as Pak Joko [Jokowi] Widodo has stated that he would give 100 percent support for intellectually disabled athletes, so that they could have equal opportunities with other athletes,” she said.
The second part of the special meeting is to be held in February with a different agenda for discussion.
