For Health Professionals

A healthier athlete is a better athlete, right? It sounds like a simple enough premise, yet research studies conducted by Special Olympics found disturbing evidence that Special Olympics athletes, as well as individuals with intellectual disabilities at large, face widespread health problems, while physicians, dentists and other health professionals are not receiving adequate training in order to treat them.

The research reinforces previous studies that found that despite the widespread belief that individuals with intellectual disabilities receive better health care than the rest of the population; people with intellectual disabilities actually have poorer health; more specialized health care needs and greater difficulty accessing health care services and doctors compared to the general public.

To address this issue, Special Olympics International created the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® program in 1996, a program of free medical screenings conducted on-site during Special Olympics competitions. The ultimate goal is to improve athletes' ability to train and compete in Special Olympics by helping athletes improve their health and fitness, leading to enhanced sports experience and improved well-being.

In addition to improving access and health care for Special Olympics athletes via event-based health screenings, the program also helps to train healthcare professionals and students about the needs and care of people with intellectual disabilities.

Special Olympics continually collects, analyzes and disseminates data on the health status and needs of people with intellectual disabilities and advocates for improved health policies and programs for persons with intellectual disabilities.

In Florida, Special Olympics has conducted hundreds of screenings, but thousands of athletes have yet to benefit from this program and that’s where you, as a health professional can help.

These programs are made possible only through the generosity of health care professionals who donate their time to staff these screenings at Special Olympics events. All volunteer health professionals will receive free training from Special Olympics prior to their involvement.

We Need Your Help:

Florida needs a minimum of 6 volunteer clinical directors for each discipline.  We could do many more screening if we had more clinical directors to oversee clinics in their geographic locations!

If you are a medical professional or affiliated with a medical facility or medical/dental training institution and would like to assist with the Helalthy Athletes program, please complete the "contact me" form.

Who is a Clinical Director?

• Licensed professional
• Proven interest of service
• Member of or active in local/state/national professional organization
• Geographic accessibility to program activities
• Demonstrated leadership abilities
• Volunteer commitment of 3 years for Program Clinical Director

Role of Clinical Director:

• Attend a one day Train-the-Trainer workshop, followed by a practical experience the next day at a Special Olympics Florida competition (Friday and Saturday activity)
• Recruit/train screening volunteers for venue
• Work with a group of state or regional clinical advisors and Special Olympics Florida staff to develop or locate appropriate education materials, equipment and supplies needed for an event
• Responsible for working with state or county Special Olympics Florida program leaders
• Supervise the venue
• Recruit computer savvy volunteers to enter screening data onsite
• Report data to Special Olympics Florida
• Evaluate event
• Continue to seek opportunities and partnerships for Healthy Athletes activities
• Participate within Healthy Athletes team, working with the coordinators of other disciplines in the planning capacity sharing of the venue
• Oversee 2-3 events annually that may take one to two days each

The Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Provider Directory:

There is an online database enabling patients to find health care professionals in their area who are willing to treat patients with intellectual disabilities.

The Provider Directory is a result of Special Olympics’ experience and research that found people with intellectual disabilities are badly in need of health care. Special Olympics research shows that only 1 in 50 recently trained primary care physicians have any clinical training regarding intellectual disability during their medical school and residency programs.

The Directory will allow health care professionals to identify themselves as willing to treat people with intellectual disabilities. The Provider Directory is open to health care providers in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean who provide services to people with intellectual disabilities.

Health care professionals sign up for the Directory on a voluntary basis and the Directory is meant solely to facilitate the connection between a person with intellectual disabilities and a health care professional. Special Olympics cannot guarantee that the information it receives is up to date nor does Special Olympics endorse the qualifications of the health care providers listed in the Directory.

The network is expected to be the largest health care providers list for people with disabilities in the country. Health care providers can enroll in the Directory at www.specialolympics.org/providerdirectory.

People looking for a health care professional willing to treat people with intellectual disabilities can access the easy-to-use Health Care Provider Directory, at www.specialolympics.org/providerdirectory.

Global Vision Care Curriculum

Special Olympics and Lions Clubs International are proud to offer Global Vision Care Curriculum to vision care professionals and students to help combat the vision problems that people with intellectual disabilities face every day. The curriculum represents state-of-the-art science and clinical practice guidelines for providing quality diagnostic and vision care services for people with intellectual disabilities and is the only vision curriculum focused on this population in the world. Further, it uniquely brings in focus issues of how people with intellectual disabilities deserve to be treated and involved in their own healthcare decisions and in their own words.  The curriculum is available for free and will be shipped to you, by sending a message to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Health Professions Student Grants

Special Olympics provides grants for health professions students. The grant program promotes short-term projects with a focus on Special Olympics Healthy Athletes as well as the health and well-being of all persons with intellectual disabilities.  Read more about this grant opportunity and download the grant application.