Special Olympics Indiana has formally joined the Indiana Disability Alliance, expanding its work beyond athletic competition to advocate for policies impacting Hoosiers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The coalition focuses on protecting Home and Community-Based Services and Medicaid supports, which help individuals live independently and avoid institutionalization.
“While Special Olympics Indiana is not directly impacted by changes to Medicaid or Home and Community-Based Services, many of our athletes and their families are,” said Jeff Mohler, president and CEO of Special Olympics Indiana. “Joining the Indiana Disability Alliance allows us to stand alongside them and other members of the disability community to make sure their voices are heard.”
In Northwest Indiana, the alliance's policy priorities directly touch athletes and families participating through Special Olympics Area 1 , which coordinates programs across Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, and Marshall-Starke counties. Local county units, rely on stable community-based care and home supports to keep athletes actively engaged in year-round sports, health programs, and local meets.
Mohler noted that ensuring people with disabilities have a unified voice in state policy decisions is vital: “Every athlete deserves the opportunity to live, learn, work and participate in their community with the support they need.”
About Special Olympics Indiana
Special Olympics Indiana is a nonprofit organization that is part of the global Special Olympics movement, created by the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation for the benefit of persons with intellectual disabilities. Its vision is an inclusive world, driven by the power of sport, through which people with intellectual disabilities live active, healthy, and fulfilling lives
