What's the Difference Between the Special Olympics and the Paralympics?

Geannette Wittendorf is a steadfast supporter of the Special Olympics, along with many other sports charities that empower their athletes. 

Geannette Wittendorf is passionate about supporting sports charities, organizations, and nonprofits that help create a positive and encouraging environment for individuals who are faced with physical and mental challenges. As an Olympic sports enthusiast herself, Geannette Wittendorf understands the sense of community that sports can create for athletes and their supporters.

To express her personal interest, Geannette Wittendorf regularly shows her support for both the Special Olympics and Paralympics. Both organization's main purpose is creating an outlet for those with physical and mental disabilities, giving them a place to enjoy their love for sports while participating in healthy competition on a global scale. Both the Special Olympics and Paralympics aim to provide their athletes with life changing tools - freedom, confidence and inclusion in society.

Geannette Wittendorf understands the key differences that set the Special Olympics and Paralympics apart from one another, making each organization specifically beneficial to different groups of diverse athletes. 

The Special Olympics was founded in 1968 with the same mission today as when the organization was first created. The Special Olympics aims to provide people intellectual disabilities the chance to discover their own strengths and abilities through the power of sports, reinforcing the athlete's focus on what they can do, instead of what they've been told they can't do. 

The Special Olympics also provides a sense of community for not only the athletes, but the families supporting their loved ones as well. 



The Paralympics mission is equally as inspiring. The Paralympics is specifically geared toward those with physical disabilities distinguished by the International Paralympic Committee's Athletics Classification Handbook. The idea was introduced following World War II to assist veterans and civilians who were physically effected by war. The first Paralympics Games took place in Rome, Italy in 1960 including 400 elite athletes from 23 different countries. 


The Paralympics Games evolved from there and so did their mission following the foundation of the International Paralympic Committee as a nonprofit organization. 







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