My Year of Adventure

By Louise Campbell

I have been on an incredible adventure over the last 12 months – I finished High School, moved out of home and travelled interstate and overseas.  I am currently a first year Medical Student at Bond University in Queensland, Australia.  But this year hasn’t all been about packing suitcases, learning how to cook and decorating my new apartment.  I have also been on a voyage of growth and understanding, and Special Olympics has been a part of this. 

During my final year at school, some friends and I developed a website to encourage young people to volunteer in our community (www.volunteens.com.au).  Through this, I became aware of the work of Special Olympics Australia and was selected to be a Youth Leader.  I was invited to attend the inaugural Special Olympics Youth Leadership Summit held in Sydney in January 2024. 

Special Olympics Asia Pacific Youth for Inclusion Summit – Singapore, May 2024

This was my first trip on my own away from home and I was excited to meet other young people from all around Australia and hear about their lives.  It was at this conference that I was paired with Lisa Weingartner, my Unified Team member.  Lisa is about the same age as me and lives with an intellectual disability.  She is an amazing runner, has competed at the Special Olympics on many occasions and is training to work as a retail assistant.   

Lisa and I were then given the opportunity to travel to Singapore in May for the Special Olympics Asia Pacific Youth for Inclusion Summit.  Singapore was a bustling, beautiful and very hot city.  We had the chance to explore the harbor and the street markets.  We learnt about the experience of people with an intellectual disability in countries such as Bhutan, India and Pakistan.  It was here that I first became aware of the Healthy Athletes program that runs in the United States of America.  I learnt about the particular health needs and the health outcomes of people with intellectual disability.

Special Olympics Australia Youth Leadership Summit – Sydney, January 2024

In Australia, government statistics estimate that there are about 450,000 people with intellectual disability.  Compared with the general population, people with intellectual disability have:

• more than twice the rate of avoidable deaths

• twice the rate of emergency department and hospital admissions

• substantially higher rates of physical and mental health conditions

• and, significantly lower rates of preventive healthcare.

Despite this, the Disability Royal Commission held in 2019 heard that health professionals lack the knowledge, skills and appropriate attitudes required to address the health needs of people with intellectual disability. It has been estimated that the amount of time given to training in intellectual disability health care in most medical schools is 2.6 hours. 

Special Olympics Australia, Inclusive Health Forum – Bond University, Gold Coast, October 2024. Back row (L to R): Dr Louise Butler, Dr James Morton, Ms Jill Ireland. Front row (L to R): Prof Rhonda Faragher, Caitlin (Down Syndrome Australia Health Ambassador), Lisa Weingartner, Louise Campbell

Lisa and I were inspired to take action to help raise awareness of the health needs of people with an intellectual disability.   We decided to target my fellow medical and allied health students to try and give new skills to the next generation of doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists.    With funds from a Youth Innovation Grant from Special Olympics, we organized a half day “Inclusive Health Forum” at Bond University on the Gold Coast. 

Our day started with a presentation from Dr Louise Butler, a developmental paediatrician.  She explained how intellectual disability is assessed and how important it is to create a positive relationship with our patients during this process.  This was followed by a talk by Dr Melanie Johnston from the Queensland Centre of Excellence in Autism and Disability Health.  Dr Johnston is a psychiatrist with a special interest in mental health and intellectual disability.  She showed us videos her unit developed to train hospital doctors on how to understand the different ways mental health issues might present.   Professor Rhonda Faragher is Professor in Inclusive Education at the University of Queensland and International Vice-President of the Down Syndrome Association.  She gave us some very clear guidelines on how to better communicate with people with an intellectual disability, even when dealing with complex medical situations. 

After morning tea, we were lucky to be joined by Dr Vincent Siasoco via Zoom from New York.  It was very inspiring to hear how the Healthy Athletes program is producing measurable improvements in the health of the participants.  Dr James Morton then gave a very moving account of the challenges faced by his son, Andy, who has a profound intellectual disability.  Dr Morton has been instrumental in the founding of the AEIOU Foundation that provides intensive early years support to children with autism.  In our final session, Ms Jill Ireland, a child psychologist, hosted a panel discussion with Lisa as well as Caitlin, a Down Syndrome Australia Health Ambassador.  Caitlin and Lisa both explained to us how they feel when they are excluded from conversations about their health and well-being and how they prefer their health needs to be discussed.

We have had a great deal of positive feedback about the Inclusive Health Forum.  The students that attended feel more confident that they have the skills to help people with an intellectual disability.  We are looking forward to further developing this project in the coming years.

I’m guessing that many people reading this article may not have heard about my home state, Queensland in Australia.  This is about to change as our capital city, Brisbane, is preparing to host the Summer Olympics in 2032.  There is already a great deal of planning and construction underway.  But – getting ready for the Olympics is not all that is happening Down Under.  Lisa and I, along with many others committed to making a difference to the lives of people with intellectual disability, are working hard and planning to set some world records of our own.

About the Author:

Louise Campbell is a first-year medical student at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia. She received a Special Olympics Australia Youth Innovation Grant Award last year. She helped organize Special Olympics Australia's first Inclusive Health Forum that was held in October 2024.