The director of TEBVist, Josep Maria Soro, has been the preacher of the eleventh edition of the 2018 Special Olympics Games, which are held the first week of October in La Seu d’Urgell (Spain) and Andorra. The presentation ceremony was held on September 18 in the Sant Jordi hall of the Palau de la Generalitat.

During the ceremony, Josep Maria Soro asked people with intellectual disabilities to occupy “all areas, at work, at leisure, in sports … Not because they are granted as a gesture of solidarity or compassion, but because they belong to you”. The director of TEBVist urged the athletes to enjoy the Games and to “make everyone enjoy them” and wished them to be “the best in history”.

The president of Special Olympics Catalunya, Sergi Grimau, said that this event is a great opportunity for society to reflect on the concept of normality to make it more inclusive. “To me, normality,” he said, “is to strive and surpass oneself, it is sharing, it is not having prejudices towards those who are not like me and celebrating even defeats.”

The president of the ACELL Federation, Marina Gómez, remembered Francesc Martínez de Foix i Llorens, a leader in the defense of the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and promoter of the first Special Olympics Games. Marina Gomez recalled that Martinez de Foix, who died just over a year ago, always affirmed convinced that “a country that strives to make people with intellectual disabilities active citizens, recognized and happy, is a better country for all.”

The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim Torra, assured that the government is committed to this sector of society. Proof of this, he said, is the creation of a National Pact for People with Disabilities “to lay the foundations that will make us a leading country in inclusion.”

In the Special Olympics Games, the first to be held jointly in two countries, 1,500 athletes will participate in 14 different specialties. The motto of this edition is a declaration of intent: “Better are those who to try it”.

TEBVist is an audiovisual and awareness-raising project of TEB Cooperative Group. It has become the first online television channel in Catalonia carried out by people with intellectual disabilities.