On July 20th 1968, forty years ago yesterday, a unique sporting event - for a few hundred people with intellectual disability - was held in a sports field in Chicago. It was the start of the Special Olympics movement and an important milestone in the changing fortunes for people with learning delay.

Four decades on, the Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to 2.8 million athletes in 26 different Olympic sports.  Special Olympics now takes place everyday in community playgrounds, halls and sports fields in over 180 countries worldwide. Special Olympics has also added initiatives and expanded advocacy work – all centered on the catalytic power of sport – that include health, family support and education.

In South Africa's Mpumalanga province, they are preparing to host this years' Special Olympics national competiton. Over 100,000 of Mpumalanga's 3.6 million population have an intellectual disability. Only 10% of these attend school, sometimes because there is no school nearby or because parents are ashamed and believe their child can not learn.

"Special Olympics try to change the way families and communities think about and treat people with a disability", says Anne-Marie van Wieringen, Executive Director of Special Olympics South Africa. One of the features of the event - and an important way in which Special Olympics extends its support outside of the sporting arena - will be the presence of a team of medical professionals who will voluntarily carry out health screenings offering general medical check-up, podiarty screening, eye tests, and free prescription glasses, nutrition, health advice and a dental check-up. In first world countries - where a lack of education and the social stigma attached to having a child with disability still present a real challenge  - the work of this organisation which first began to shift people's understanding of disability 40 years ago, continues apace.   

In 2003, the Special Olympic World Games were held in Ireland and the nation bore witness to "let me win, but if I cannot win , let me be brave in the attempt" -  a philosophy which was first espoused by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968 and which still applies to all Special Olympians today.

Thousands of people volunteered to take athletes into their homes, to marshall at events, competitions and to help organise and administer what was an incredible outpouring of goodwill and support for people with learning disability from the president of the country right down to children in primary school.

It was an incredible event that almost came from nowhere yet moved the hearts of a nation. 

Happy Birthday Special Olmypics.