SpecialStories

Original Source: TheStar.com (Toronto Star; you must register to read)
Author: George Gamester
`I realized you have two choices: Lie down and let life pass you by. Or stand up and participate’
Life threw Harry Titus a few punches, including blindness, so he fought back. And he won
Story
Listen, there’s this Karate Kid we want you to meet.
Sure, [...]

Original Source: Centre Daily Times
By Chris Rosenblum
crosenbl@centredaily.com
PATTON TOWNSHIP -– Behind Kyle Heichel’s 11-year-old eyes lies a month-old infant.
He is helpless, speechless, paralyzed from the neck down since birth by either a stroke in utero or his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
Christine Heichel isn’t sure which led to her son’s cerebral atrophy, daily seizures and [...]

Original Source: DailyIndia.com
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Oct.22 (ANI): Eight-year-old Eera Parihar’s mental disability might have restricted her to compete with other children of her age, but that did not come in her way to achieve a swimming record.
Eera has done her parents proud by swimming one kilometre in a 40-kilometre lake, considered the biggest lake in [...]

Original Source: National Post
David Cass is much more to the Argos than an equipment assistant — ‘You could be having a bad day … and he just perks you right back up’
By Sean Fitz-Gerald,
National Post
OAKVILLE - Just about everyone has a favourite snapshot of Dave the Wave, a memory that can be pulled out at [...]

Original Source: The Connecticut Post
By BRIAN A. POUNDS bpounds@ctpost.com
Little Charlie Beri edges her toes to the lip of the pool, bending her knees tentatively and raising her arms in preparation to jump.
Waiting in the pool for the 3-year-old is Lisa Ellis, an instructor in the Fairfield YMCA’s preschool swim classes for the last six years.
Ellis, [...]

Here’s a great news video about a special needs ice hockey team.

Types of News
While there are many news stories that mention athletes with disabilities most are concerned with specific competitions and results. On this website we concentrate on inspiring or amusing stories so those are the only news stories that I include.
Sources of Special Olympics News
There are several clipping services on the web where one can [...]

From his website: www.JustinHines.org
Possessed of an unflagging spirit that’s remarkable under any circumstances, Justin copes with a rare genetic joint condition called Larsen Syndrome, that keeps him wheelchair bound. “Sometimes people find it hard to understand why I would be so positive,” he explains. “I was born into my situation, I don’t know any different, [...]

Special Olympics puts out a series of CDs called A Very Special Christmas. This series of 10 CDs (so far) includes many well-known performers who donate their efforts to support the organization. The songs themselves, however, are not about Special Olympics athletes.
Alternate website.

Judy Small
Official Judy Small Website
Judy Small is one of the most influential singer-songwriters to come out of Australia. Her songs, which include one of the hardest-hitting looks at the effects of war, “Mothers, Daughters, Wives” and the ecologically-minded tune, “Charlesworth Bay,” have been covered by Ronnie Gilbert, Eric Bogle, The McCalmans, The Corries, Charlie King [...]