107. ‘Unified Sports’ and Promoting Social Inclusion Through Shared Sports Competition for Students With and Without Disabilities (with Teacher and Coach Haylee Whiteley)
Description
What if one program could transform an entire school’s culture—helping students with and without disabilities build real friendships, learn teamwork, and create a spirit of belonging?
That’s exactly what Unified Sports is doing. It’s a high school program run through the Special Olympics that brings students with and without intellectual disabilities together to play in sports competitions—and it’s creating ripple effects of kindness and inclusion in high schools all over the nation.
In this episode, I sit down with Haylee Whiteley, the Unified Sports coach and a special education teacher at Salem Hills High School. Haylee explains how this program functions, she shares stories that illustrate how it has completely transformed their school community, and gives many ideas for how others can start Unified Sports in their own schools or towns.
Haylee's passion, heart, and all the hours of good service she's spent are evident throughout this episode, and it left me feeling so grateful for the good work people like her do in many of our school communities.
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