People with intellectual disabilities wave Malawi flag higher

People with intellectual disabilities are said to have the ability to put Malawi on the sports map as they have continuously claimed victory in various sports disciplines at international games.

Director of sports at Special Olympics Malawi, Dorice Suwedi made the remarks on Tuesday in Mulanje when the organization held a training workshop for Primary School Sports coaches in an initiative aimed at igniting support for people with intellectual disabilities in sporting activities.

According to Suwedi through her organization, intellectually disabled people from Malawi have been competing in international games such as the Special Olympics World Summer games since 2003, from where they have brought dignified medals, signifying Malawian participants’ success.

“In 2003 we brought; in 2007 we also brought a number of medals and just last year (2015) eleven athletes with intellectual disabilities from Malawi brought 12 medals, among them 7 gold ones, 4 silver and 1 bronze: so you can see that Malawi is really being put on the sports map by these people,” said Suwedi, adding that people should not consider people with intellectual disabilities as mentally disordered, but rather those whose intellects have been upset.

Commenting on the initiative, Coordinator for primary school special needs education in the district Andrew Chimwaza said children with special needs face a lot of challenges in interacting with their fellows in school as the type of games made available for them to play are mostly unfriendly to people with intellectual disabilities.

Therefore Chimwaza hailed the organization for taking the training to the district which he said was going to turn tables for the intellectually disabled children.

Currently, Special Olympics has trained committees in more than 18 districts in the country in preparation for the roll out of sporting competitions between people with intellectual disabilities.