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To Betsy DeVos: Don't Cut Funding for the Special Olympics

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Dear Betsy DeVos,

My name is Brooks Fitts, and I am a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am not a politician or someone with interest in being elected to public office. I am merely interested in and concerned in particular with those in the disability community.

I have seen your recent budget that proposes eliminating support for the Special Olympics. Although I have never participated in the Special Olympics, many kids with the disability I have, cerebral palsy, do on a regular basis. I want you to go to them, look them in the eye and tell them that a program that means so much to them will no longer be supported by the United States government. I want you to go to hospitals and clinics with children, and tell them their government has effectively turned their back on one of the most meaningful organizations they might ever have the chance to be a part of.

I want you to go to a Special Olympics event and look at the smiling faces of every child and parent. I want you to imagine a world without Special Olympics. I want you to recognize that just because some kids who participate in Special Olympics cannot fully speak for themselves, it does not mean you can effectively shut down government funding for this program without a fight.

I am proud to have cerebral palsy. I am proud to be able to live, go to school and enjoy many things in my community that others with my condition simply cannot. Please, do not cease funding one of the few joys many kids with disabilities have in their lives.

We are better than this.

Sincerely,
Brooks Fitts

Originally published: March 27, 2019
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