Join The Inclusion Initiative in collaboration with the movement of Special Olympics for a panel discussion with Special Olympics Athlete Leaders. During the event, the panellists will discuss the current work of Special Olympics in support of individuals with intellectual disabilities, on and off the playing field.

The event will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the challenges individuals with intellectual disabilities face, and the remarkable talents and abilities they bring to their families, neighbourhoods, communities and nations.    

Meet our speakers and chair

Kiera Byland (@kierabyland) is a Special Olympics (SO) GB Board Member, Athlete Leader and double triple World gold medal cyclist. Kiera has been recognised as part of the Queens Birthday Honours and awarded a British Empire Medal for her services to sport. She is also the SO Great Britain representative for SO Europe Eurasia Athlete Input Council, currently as chairperson.

Nyasha Derera holds several leadership roles within Special Olympics. At the 2018 Global Athlete Congress, his was elected him Chairperson of the Congress. As part of this role, he serves on the Special Olympics International Board of Directors and Global Health Messenger, advocating for health by teaching healthy habits and everyday fitness. Nyasha is an accomplished short and long-distance runner. In Zimbabwe, he holds an impressive record of 17 gold medals, 6 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

Kester Edwards is a longtime Special Olympics athlete, former Special Olympics International Board of Directors member, and member of the very first class of Sargent Shriver International Global Messengers. He is currently the Manager of Sport and Development at Special Olympics in Washington, D.C. He is known as a sports innovator who played a pivotal role in bringing an endurance sport—open water swimming—to Special Olympics.

Heidi Mallet is an athlete from Alberton Prince Edward Island, Canada. She has been involved with Special Olympics for the past 14 years. She has participated in golf, bowling, bocce and snowshoeing. Over the past few years, she has had many leadership opportunities serving on different disabilities organizations boards and committees like People First of Canada PEI People, Special Olympics Canada Athletes Leadership Council and as part of the Global Athlete Leadership Council.

Grace Lordan (@profgracelordan) is the Founding Director of The Inclusion Initiative (TII) and an Associate Professor in Behavioural Science at LSE. Grace is an expert advisor to the UK government sitting on their skills and productivity board. Her academic writings have been published in top international journals in economics and the broader social sciences. Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future you Want is her first book.

More about this event

TII (@lse_tii) aims to bring behavioural science insights to firms to allow them to enhance the inclusion of all talent, and simultaneously produce academically rigorous and relevant research that links directly to TII’s purpose.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSETII

Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Unsplash.