Aug. 19, 2009

With a heavy heart I learnt about the death of SO founder Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver and am expressing our condolences to the family of the diseased.

These days Mrs. Shriver ‘s voice and face keep lingering in my mind. She created Special Olympics to change the fate of the intellectually disabled and their families and also the stereotyped ideas of the population on the part of the society. She ignited the flame of hope for the disabled in the world and built up a platform for them to communicate with the society.

In 2000 in Chongwen District Special School I came to know about Special Olympics and start joining in some of its activities. Gradually I found more and more changes taking place on the ID children. I became more active and in the meantime my child also grew up in SO atmosphere. More smiles on the kids’ faces and many families feel some joy along with the kids’ smiling faces.

Over the years Special Olympics is growing and exerting more influence----more people understand the ID population and become more caring about them.

Now Mrs. Shriver has gone and the ID people and their families are grieved at the death of such a great woman. But I firmly believe that the SO flame will continue lighting up more SO families. The ID population and their families will always remember her. She will live in our hearts forever!

Yours sincerely,

Li Xiuyun

SO family, Beijing

2009年8月11日，特殊奧林匹克運動會（特奧會）創始人尤尼斯.甘迺迪.施萊佛女士去世，聞訊我心情很沉重，對老夫人去世表示哀悼。

這些天來在我頭腦裡一直揮之不去一幕幕老夫人的音容笑貌。為改變智障人士和他們家人的命運以及社會的“固有看法”，施萊佛女士創辦了特殊奧林匹克運動會，給全世界智障人士點燃了希望的聖火，搭建了一個能與社會溝通的平臺。

從2000年我在崇文培智學校知道了有特奧， 開始只是參加 ，慢慢的有了瞭解，並看到智障孩子們的巨大變化，我也積極參與進來。我的孩子在多年的特奧活動中長大了，進步了，有笑臉了。許許多多的家庭也因孩子們的笑臉有了歡樂。

這些年來，在全社會，特奧會影響力也迅速擴大，使更多人瞭解智障人群，關愛智障人。

尤尼斯，甘迺迪，施萊佛女士去世了。智障人士及家庭都深感悲痛，但是，我堅信，特奧之火會照亮更多特奧家庭，我們智障人士及家庭會永遠記住她！她永遠在我們心中！

                                                                                  北京家長李秀雲

                                          2009年8月19日