From February 25 to March 2, leaders of Health in Special Olympicsbesides Golisano Foundationembarked on a whirlwind week of site visits across Ireland. The goal was to experience the diversity of holistic health programs offered across the country and meet the athletes and leaders who make this work possible.
The week began at Special Olympics Ireland’s head offices in Dublin with a series of presentations demonstrating the breadth of work and partnerships, so Ireland moves forward to support athletes and influence health policy towards more inclusive systems.
Special Olympics Health Messengers They were front and center all day long. Ashwin Mallayakal, 22 years old basketball player Special Olympics Ireland The Ambassador has partnered with the Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland’s publicly funded healthcare system, and St Michael’s Special Education School in Dublin, to develop a digital and physical health passport for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This passport provides individuals with a personal record of their health needs and conditions, helping to inform healthcare providers about specific concerns and considerations. Since it was developed, the Passporting is a promising practice Which could be adopted in other countries to improve inclusion in health care provision.
In addition, Margaret Turley– Sargent Shriver Global Messenger, Health Messenger, and veteran SO Ireland athlete – presented alongside Breast Cancer Ireland on programming developed by the two organizations to help people with SO Ireland better understand the signs of breast cancer and take steps to self-screen. Margaret was instrumental in developing and implementing the breast cancer screening program. Since its development, it has been It is recognized as good practice for comprehensive health for people with disabilities by the World Health Organization. The full scope of this first day – including additional presentations and insights from Ashwin, SO Ireland Health Chair Cathy Fulcher, and other key stakeholders – is outlined. Covered in depth with exclusive reporting by The Irish Independent.
Thinking about all the presentations made during the day, especially those by Ashwin and Margaret, Special Olympics Chief Health Officer, Dr. Dimitri Christakis Share the feelings of gratitude and pride he left today. “Every time I see our health messengers, I am humbled by the way they speak about our message,” Christakis said. “No one spreads the message of inclusion better than them. They speak for themselves, they speak to the movement, they speak to anyone with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Their stories are really a testament to what anyone can do when given the opportunity.”
Following the presentations, the field visit group traveled north to Belfast to visit the Ulster University campus. Ulster University is a research institution setting a new national and global standard for comprehensive health education, research and community partnerships. For these commitments and more, Ulster has been honored with 2025 Golisano Health Leadership Award– Special Olympics Health’s highest honor, honoring an individual or organization from each of the seven Special Olympics regions for leadership in comprehensive health care. During the visit, the Special Olympics and Golisano team saw this impact firsthand through a dinner with Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Bartholomew and Dean Cathy Gormley Heenan, as well as a tour of the College of Health Sciences to learn about Ulster’s commitment to training holistic health professionals and improving the health of people with DID in the community.
Once the Ulster visit had concluded, the group returned to Greater Dublin to visit a local resident Young athletes Drill Club, where children between the ages of 2 and 7, with or without Direct Contact Disorder, gather with their families for an afternoon of play. Throughout the demonstration, children and families practice throwing and catching, kicking a ball, and navigating an obstacle course – essential skills that support developmental milestones and pave the way for future sports participation.
The last day of the site visit was probably the busiest ever. The morning began with the first note Motor Activity Training Program (MATP) A session for athletes who have been selected to compete in the coming period Special Olympics Irish National Gameswhich will take place from June 18 to 21, 2026. MATP is a movement-based sports program designed for athletes with high support needs. Sessions focus on developing mobility, dexterity, striking, kicking and balance through sports-related activities in an environment that promotes joy without comparison to others. During the session, Special Olympics visitors and Golisano joined the activities, interacted and participated alongside the athletes. Among the participants was Golisano Foundation Executive Director, Erica Dayton, who spoke about the experience, saying, “Observing the MATP session with the athletes was one of the most memorable moments of the visit. Sessions like this remind us of the importance of holistic health; everyone deserves the opportunity to participate, support, and achieve their full potential. The energy, encouragement, and joy in the room demonstrated exactly what inclusive communities can look like.”
To conclude the visits, the group headed to Trinity College Dublin To learn about ongoing research and advocacy focused on the health of people with direct contact disorder. Trinity is one of the leaders who implements Rosemary Cooperative An initiative in Ireland, which aims to accelerate efforts to address global health inequalities experienced by individuals with IDD. This initiative includes 11 participating sites in nine countries. Trinity Professor Sean Healy, who leads the Rosemary Collaboratory site in Ireland, shared details of how the team is leveraging research to improve access to health services and outcomes for people with IDD across the country. In addition, Professor Eilish Burke and her team presented their work on IDS-TILDA (Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging), a study examining the health, aging and well-being of adults with intellectual disabilities in Ireland.
Together, these site visits demonstrated the powerful and comprehensive ways in which Special Olympics Ireland – working alongside universities, government bodies and civil society partners – is promoting holistic health across the country. Through these efforts and more, Ireland embodies the vision of Special Olympics Special Olympics Healthy Communitieswhich recognizes that holistic health cannot be achieved through a single approach but instead requires communication and collaboration between communities.
For Dr. Christakis, the site visits were a testament to what is possible through the support of the Golisano Foundation for Special Olympics. “The Golisano Foundation has been transformative for us,” Christakis said. “Special Olympics’ health work globally would not be possible without their ongoing support. When I see how programs like Special Olympics Ireland grow and innovate to support people with IDD, Golisano’s impact is clear.”
Erica Dayton reiterated the impact she observed firsthand throughout the week, saying: “Experiencing these programs firsthand and spending time with the athletes and leaders behind them has been incredibly rewarding. Seeing athletes, educators, researchers and community leaders across Ireland pushing this work forward is inspiring and a powerful reminder of what is possible. What is happening across Ireland demonstrates how powerful collaboration can be in promoting holistic health and creating communities where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are truly supported to live healthy and fulfilling lives.”
