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Timothy P. Shriver

Timothy P. Shriver

Timothy P. Shriver is a social leader, educator, activist, film producer and business entrepreneur. As Chairman & CEO of Special Olympics, he serves nearly 4 million Special Olympics athletes in 180 countries. He has transformed Special Olympics into a movement that focuses on acceptance, inclusion, and respect for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Shriver created exciting new Special Olympics initiatives in athlete leadership, cross-­cultural research, health, and education. Among them, Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® has become the world’s largest
public health screening and education program for people with intellectual disabilities, and Special Olympics Get Into It®, together with Unified Sports®. Promotes inclusion and acceptance. Before joining Special Olympics in 1995, Shriver was and remains a leading educator focusing on the social and emotional development in learning. He co-­founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading research organization in the U.S. in the field of social and emotional learning. Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master’s degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut.
 

Blog Posts

  • January 19, 2012

    Raise Your Voice for Dignity!

    This piece was originally published at the Special Olympics blog -- The World of Olympics -- and is being republished here with permission.

    Dear Friends of Special Olympics:

    Many people have shared with me in recent days the tragic news about a girl named Amelia who was refused a spot on a waiting list at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for a liver transplant because she is "mentally retarded."

    When I heard about this, it made my blood boil.

    Some have questioned why we in Special Olympics have mounted a campaign to challenge the humiliating use of the word, “retard.” Others have sometimes suggested that Special Olympics has gone beyond its mission in mounting the world’s largest public health campaign to close the disparities and outright bigotry that still infect systems of care delivery for people with intellectual differences.

    Still others wonder why so many of us speak with such passion about how sport is needed to unleash the power of the human spirit and to attack the vicious discrimination that so often crushes innocent people unjustly.

  • October 11, 2011

    Help Designate March 21 as World Down Syndrome Day - Sign the Petition!

    Dear Friends of Special Olympics:

    It is with pride and joy that I write on behalf of the global Special Olympics movement to request your support for the United Nations to declare March 21 as World Down Syndrome Day. I can think of no other population on earth more deserving of a day to celebrate their gifts, their needs, and their value to communities and countries the world over.

    As you know so well, people with Down Syndrome have long been discriminated against, often violently all over the world. A diagnosis of Down Syndrome even today is often perceived as a curse, a burden, or a tragedy. Too often governments fail the test of human dignity by denying citizens with Down Syndrome access to health care, to education, and to human rights.

Maria Shriver © 2012. All rights reserved.

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