Health Research The realistic capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities can’t be realized if there are significant barriers to quality health care. Special Olympics research has found that health care professionals are not providing access to quality health care for people with intellectual disabilities and people with intellectual disabilities have some of the worst health care of any minority population in America. During a Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® event, athletes receive a variety of health screenings and services such as the hearing examination shown here. The health data gathered at events are important for planning, programs, gaining support, improving policies and research. This shocking status has led Special Olympics to pursue programs that involve doctors, dentists and students (Special Olympics provides grants to health professions students) in the ways to treat people with intellectual disabilities and tear down barriers to quality health care. Special Olympics' health research helps to demonstrate the impact of Special Olympics health programming and educate the public on the social policy implications of the research. It also engages the public as endorsers of the importance of this population and inspire the public’s involvement in Special Olympics health and research programs. Available Special Olympics Health Research Special Olympics Poster presented at the 2006 APHA Annual Meeting: "Speak to Me, Not My Mom: Self-reported Health Perceptions of Special Olympics Athletes." [Adobe PDF, 152KB] The Health Status and Needs of Individuals with Mental Retardation (Special Olympics commissioned this report to identify the current health status and needs of individuals with mental retardation, to identify services gaps in supporting these needs and to propose specific recommendations to address the unmet health care needs. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine & Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut — published September 15, 2000; Revised December 18, 2000) Closing the Gap: A National Blueprint to Improve the Health of Persons with Mental Retardation (Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Health Disparities and Mental Retardation/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — published 2002) The Health and Health Care of People with Intellectual Disabilities (Compilation of research finding evidence that individuals with intellectual disabilities face widespread health problems and health professionals are not receiving adequate training to treat them — February 2005) 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games Healthy Athletes Screening Data (Results of health data for the largest sample of persons with intellectual disabilities: nearly 11,000 individual health screenings were conducted across six disciplines for 3,531 different athletes — published 2005) Promoting Health for Persons with Mental Retardation — A Critical Journey Barely Begun (A Special Olympics analysis to identify and highlight the health status and needs of persons with mental retardation and to suggest approaches to improve both the length and quality of their lives — published March, 2001) Special Olympics posters presented at the 2004 AAMR Annual Meeting Materials, published June 2004, presented on the topics of: Low Bone Mineral Density among Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Survey of Special Olympics Coaches Regarding Athlete Fitness Involvement in Special Olympics and Its Relations to Maternal and Paternal Stress Pollution, Toxic Chemicals and Mental Retardation (Executive summary proceedings of the "Framing a National Blueprint for Health Promotion and Disability Prevention" summit. AAMR environmental health initiative publication — published July 2003)   Note: In 2004, Special Olympics updated its official terminology from "mental retardation" to "intellectual disabilities" — previously the term mental retardation was used throughout the Special Olympics movement because of its specific meaning in clinical and academic settings. Other terminology — including cognitive delay, intellectual disabilities, intellectual handicaps, learning disability, mental disabilities and mental handicaps — is used around the world. Please see the Special Olympics Language Guide for more information.