Sixty-two optometrists and dispensing opticians, both qualified and students, were involved in the Opening Eyes screening at the Special Olympics GB National Games, in Leicester this summer. Organisers were thrilled that the initiative was such a success, screening 811 athletes and dispensing more than 300 pairs of spectacles and sports glasses as well as 213 pairs of sunglasses.

The Special Olympics was founded by President Kennedy’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in 1968 and since then it has been highlighting one message to the world – that people with intellectual disabilities can, and will, succeed if given the opportunity.

The event is a global, not-for-profit organisation serving the nearly 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, 3% of the global population, and they have a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

The Special Olympics athletes have an oath, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt”, and this is their blueprint for life as well as the Games. The athletes re-took this oath as part of the opening ceremony at the city’s Walkers stadium.

The Healthy Athlete Programme was established in 1996, beginning with Opening Eyes, and is designed to improve athletes' health and fitness in order to enhance their ability to train and compete in the Games. The initiative is made up of seven disciplines including Fit Feet, FUNfitness, Healthy Hearing, Health Promotion, Opening Eyes, MedFest and Special Smiles.

People with intellectual disabilities have a 40% greater risk of health issues, and generally health care professionals are not trained in, or experienced at caring for them. During Healthy Athletes events Special Olympics athletes receive a variety of health screenings and services free of charge. The screenings educate athletes on healthy lifestyle choices and identify problems that may need additional follow-up. The environment also allows an opportunity for volunteer health care professionals and students to be trained to provide appropriate care. This provides an education for the professional community about the abilities and health needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities and how to communicate for the best results.

Healthy Athletes has a presence in more than 100 countries, with more than 76,000 healthcare professionals trained. The programme has provided free health screenings for more than 700,000 athletes.

The mission of Opening Eyes is to improve the quality of life for millions of individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities by optimising their vision, eye health and visual skills through quality eye care. The goals include providing screenings to Special Olympics athletes, educating athletes, parents and coaches about the importance of regular eye care, educating and changing attitudes of eye care professionals about the vision care needs of people with intellectual disabilities worldwide and increasing knowledge of their visual and eye health needs through research.

This year 2,700 athletes were at the Special Olympics GB National Games, competing in 21 different sports. The Healthy Athletes screenings were in marquees on the car park at the Walkers stadium alongside the Olympic village. Each athlete had a full screening of their visual acuity at distance and near, cover test, motilities, pupil reactions, external eye, internal eye, IOP, colour vision, stereopsis and auto refraction. Athletes who need further testing had a full refraction. Those needing spectacles, replacement spectacles, and/or sports protection were given these items free of charge, and athletes that didn't need spectacles were given sunglasses.

For the Leicester Opening Eyes screening, those athletes whose glasses didn’t need changing were given a Slinky, which proved more popular than the sunglasses in some cases. During this year’s screening there were two urgent referrals to hospital and 34 GP referrals, mainly for cataracts and high IOPs.

There are three main sponsors of the Opening Eyes programme, Lions Clubs International, Essilor International and The Safilo Group. In 2000, the Lions Clubs International Foundation made a generous donation, which made it possible to expand the Special Olympics’ Opening Eyes initiative globally. It is now known as Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes. Essilor International is the official global supplier of ophthalmic lenses to Opening Eyes and has been since 2002. Since the beginning of 2003, The Safilo Group has supported the program by supplying free optical frames and sunglasses.

As well as the main sponsors, the author would also like to thank the following for their contributions to the 2009 screening: The College of Optometrists for the polo shirts; the AOP for a volunteer party night, Alcon for all the printing of the screening forms, reports and leaflets together with samples of Supranettes and Systane, loan equipment to use at the screening from Grafton, Haag-Streit, Mainline, Topcon and Zeiss and a large donation from friends in Eaton Socon.

But the biggest thanks of all go to the 63 optometrists and dispensing opticians who gave their time, and worked so hard.

• Readers can go to www.optometrytoday.tv for a report on this event.

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• Essilor supports the Special Olympics - 11/06/2009