Athlete Eligibility Requirements

 

Special Olympics training and competition is open to every person with intellectual disabilities who is at least eight years of age and who registers to participate in Special Olympics.

 

A person is considered to have intellectual disabilities for purposes determining his or her eligibility to participate in Special Olympics if that person satisfies one of the following requirements:

 

1. The person has been identified by an agency or professional as having intellectual disabilities as determined by their localities; or
    

2. The person has a cognitive delay as determined by standardized measures such as intelligence quotient or "IQ" testing or other measures which are generally accepted within the professional community in Virginia as being a reliable measure of the existence of a cognitive delay; or
    

3. The person has a closely-related developmental disability, which means having functional limitations in both general learning (such as IQ) and in adaptive care (such as recreation, work, independent living, self-direction, or self-care).
    

4. Persons whose functional limitations are based solely on physical, behavioral, or emotional disability or a specific learning or sensory disability are not eligible to participate as Special Olympics athletes.