Ballari: A team of the Special Olympics movement from Hosapete town in Ballari district has lit up Ugra Narasimha, the monolith monument at the world heritage site Hampi, in red, asking people to support the campaign for inclusivity of people with intellectual disability.
The team illuminated the monument in red to mark the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics movement for global demonstration of tolerance, respect and celebration of differences and also gave a call to the world to realise the urgency of including people with intellectual disabilities in the mainstream, according
to Arathi K.T., vice-president, Special Olympics Bharat, Karnataka.
Ms Shilpa Singh, regional head, Special Olympics Bharat, said, the Ugra Narasimha monument was the only one in the country and among the 225 important places in the world to be illuminated in red with the slogan, “Special Olympics wants the world to join us and light up for inclusion - Here we go with Hampi, India.”
Saadhya School for Intellectually Challenged and Special Olympics Bharat Karnataka, Ballari district, took the initiative to support the movement.
The programme concluded with the oath: “I pledge to look for the lonely, the isolated, the left out, the challenged and the bullied. I pledge to overcome the fear of difference and replace it with the power of inclusion. IChooseToInclude”.
Students of Saadhya Residential Special School and Vocational Training Centre for Specially Abled, Aakansksha Special School, Hosapete, members of Roundtable India, officers from the Archaeology Survey of India Raveendra, Somala Naik, Muvendran, foreign visitors and volunteers were among others present.
