At the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, the world games for people with intellectual disabilities, there was still talk of the legacy, the inheritance that they leave behind. The event was expensive enough; The federal and state governments have spent 140 million euros on it. Special Olympics Germany and its President Christiane Krajewski want to turn the attention into promotion and access for those affected to the clubs.
Only eight percent of intellectually handicapped people in Germany do sport regularly, most of them in the workshops where they work, in the homes where they live. The goal for the next few years is to give them access to club sports and to double their share to 16 percent. In the medium term, every fifth person should do sports.
Movement would be enough, Hans-Jürgen Schulke demonstrated during the games. He had set up robust stainless steel equipment in the summer garden of the exhibition center: a tangible legacy that those affected will soon be able to claim in front of their doors. Thousands of such outdoor sports equipment have long since replaced the idea of fitness trails in Germany: fitness in public spaces, a touch of Venice Beach in the city park.
Including movement islands for public space
Now the sociologist and educationalist Schulke, formerly head of the sports department in Hamburg, uses a selection of these devices as inclusive movement islands (IBI). “Why didn’t we come up with the idea of building IBIs much earlier?” asked Andy Grote, the city’s Interior and Sports Senator, at the inauguration of one of the first five facilities in Hamburg. In Berlin, Schulke promised: “This is the beginning of our German offensive.” The construction of such a facility, including personnel for the inexperienced, costs almost 40,000 euros.”
Only the elite of those affected do sports, especially at the level of the Special Olympics World Games, says Schulke. On the other hand, those who have not yet made it into the sports club, who are paralyzed by restrictions or fear of failure, should save themselves on movement islands. Schulke wants to bring “exercise, encounter, enthusiasm” into the everyday life of those affected – preferably in the public space in front of the gates of around two thousand workshops for the disabled in Germany.
With the Hamburg association “bridges for children” he has won 350,000 euros and the support of the entrepreneur Michael Otto, the choreographer John Neumeier and the pop star Udo Lindenberg. “The merit of the World Games is that they drew attention,” says Schulke. “But what will remain? Including movement islands will still be there in fifteen years.” Possibly soon in cities that hosted teams from abroad before the games.
Michael Reinsch, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 5 Michael Reinsch, Berlin Published/Updated: , Michael Reinsch, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2
The locations, equipped by the Playfit company, are to be sponsored by large sports clubs, as in Hamburg. IBI assistants are responsible for further offers. They hold game bags, which are part of the island’s equipment and contain rice bags and softball, cloths and throwing rings, fifty pieces in all for at least five times as many simple movement offers. The key lay in the pandemic, says Schulke. Many of those affected were themselves excluded from their jobs during the lockdown, not to mention sports and exercise offers. President Krajewski calls the idea “great”: “We support everything that goes in the direction of inclusion. The main thing is that it works properly.”
