How the Special Olympics Brought Mental Disability out of the Shadows
July 11, 2018
By: Joe Meno
Source: Chicago Magazine
On the first day of the Chicago Park District’s Special Education camp, no one showed. Anne Burke, 21-year-old physical education instructor, sat at her desk, staring at the peeling green paint on the walls. She had done everything she could to get the activity room at the West Pullman Park District ready, but there were no children anywhere. Down the hall, the gym was silent, the swimming pool was empty. The silver whistle around her neck seemed particularly useless. An hour went by, then another. By the end of the first day, the special education program seemed doomed to failure.