The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports to children and adults with intellectual disabilities in order to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

Current Goals

• To achieve quality growth by creating innovative opportunities to bring the Special Olympics experience to more of the world’s 190 million people with intellectual disabilities
• To create positive public attitudes toward a population that is often rejected or forgotten
• To reach 3 million athletes by the end of 2010, all the while maintaining the quality of the program
• To promote global athlete leadership and dedicate the movement to empowerment and dignity, not charity
• To change negative attitudes and misperceptions about people with intellectual disabilities, replacing stigma and rejection with an emphasis on potential, ability and acceptance