After reading about Unified Sports here, I was jealous that my high school did not offer such great programs. Unified Sports is an offset of the Special Olympics in that it combines students with disabilities and students without disabilities on the same teams. For example, one high school had a dance team with some disabled students that would perform in front of the school. The teams can perform against other schools Unified Sports teams locally, regionally, and nationally. 42 states particpate in the program, and the goal is for half of the students on a team to have disabilities. In addition, it is encouraged that the games and competitions are performed around the same time as normal games and competitions so that the teams draw a lot of attention.
I think this is a great way to enable students with disabilities to feel like they belong to the high school environment. It's also a great way to bring out tolerance in students around campus. In the article, students who were involved in such activities stated that the students with disabilities weren't much different from them and that they had a lot in common. Students around campus were high-fiving the students with disabilities and including them in the high school scene for once. I think that the involvement and feelings of acceptance will help the students with diabilities in school as well. Having more friends and being acknowledged will lead to a better self esteem, which could give them more courage and confidence in school work.
If you are a teacher or administrator of a high school I would recommend looking into implementing Unified Sports to help both students with and without disabilities.
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