The power of acceptance can change lives.
Liam Price has come to discover that through experience. As someone diagnosed on the autism spectrum, he has struggled at times to feel like he belonged, that he was not an outsider. He saw others his age participating in sports, being in clubs and doing others activities. All he wanted was to be invited.
Through his school community in Center Grove, and through the Special Olympics, he discovered and experienced meaningful inclusiveness. As his time as a student comes to a close, Price wants to ensure that everyone has that same experience.
"Inclusion is so important because it helps kids with special needs, or adults with special needs, to interact with those without disabilities," he said. "When kids with special needs in school see peers participating in these great activities, we want to play too."
Price has used his own experience to foster inclusiveness, not only in the local community but across the country. The Center Grove High School senior has been working as a US Youth Ambassador for the Special Olympics, where he is part of a group of 23 youth leaders with and without intellectual disabilities who spread the message of inclusion.
With the help of his fellow youth ambassador, Carmel resident Elizabeth Price, he co-authored the first ever Inclusion Tile Student Guide, distributed by Special Olympics North America to schools all over.
Now, Price is sharing his message with the world during "#Graduation2020: Facebook and Instagram Celebrate the Class of 2020." The special honors this year’s graduating class and the unique challenges they’ve faced in their final year of high school. Oprah Winfrey will give the commencement address, while stars such as Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X, Simone Biles and Miley Cyrus are also taking part.
Price is writing a speech to deliver during the event, which will be broadcast on Facebook Watch today. On Saturday, it’ll be shown at 8 p.m. on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.
The graduation event is just another example of how Price has used his unique experience to impact others.
During his time at Center Grove High School, he has found success in a number of school organizations, and is a manager for the basketball team. In October, he was voted homecoming king for the school.
He is incredibly active with the Special Olympics Johnson County in a number of sports, and plays Unified Basketball and Unified Track, teams made up of individuals with and without intellectual disabilities. He was also chosen as a Youth Ambassador, where he has spoken throughout the state about his experience with the organization.
Elizabeth Price, a junior at Carmel High School who is not related to Liam, was paired with him as a his peer ambassador. They have formed an effective team in sharing the mission of Special Olympics and Unified Sports.
"He and Elizabeth have a really great chemistry. They’ve come together and done appearances. They feed off each other’s energy really well. How they present themselves to groups has been positive," said Cindy Price, Liam’s mother.
The central goal of Unified Sports is to promote meaningful inclusion, and Special Olympics North America has made it a priority through a number of programs. One of those has been bringing Inclusion Tiles to its Unified Champion Schools — schools that have woven inclusiveness into the fabric of the school community.
Inclusion Tiles are an activity that helps people put meaningful inclusion into words and help start a conversation about it. Keywords on the back of each tile help to guide conversation, but meaning can vary from person to person.
Tiles address concepts such Acceptance, Avoidance, Fear of Difference, Lasting Friendship and Situational Friendship.
"They’re given to schools and peers in order to help them become youth leaders, so they can become better leaders," Liam Price said.
Explanations and examples are centered around the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, but Inclusion Tiles can be used to discuss meaningful inclusion in all forms, according to the manual.
In early 2020, Special Olympics North American approached Liam Price and Elizabeth Price to work on co-authoring the guide. They worked on the wording and layout of the manual, helped collect pictures and outlined guidelines about what each tile meant.
Liam Price and Elizabeth Price also traveled to speak at leadership conferences in multiple states promoting the use of the tools they use in the manual to emphasize the importance of meaningful inclusion.
"It was a big success. We didn’t think that we’d get everything done so soon," Liam Price said. "With all of the meetings we had, it feels like it was a long time ago working on it, but it hasn’t really."
Part of the goal was to help people who do not have special needs understand that their actions might not be as accepting and inclusive as they think, Cindy Price said.
"Typical peers who might have one vision of what they think, maybe their special needs peers are saying, ‘Well, you’re accepting me, but you’re not really spending quality time.’ It’s really nice how it brings that conversation out," she said.
With the manual completed, Liam Price has been focused on closing out his year at Center Grove. Next year, he’ll attend college at the University of Indianapolis.
But through his time with Special Olympics, he was given the opportunity to take part in Winfrey’s national commencement address. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the organization has focused on keeping its athletes and the special needs community engaged and connected, using exercise and videos of activity to help them manage anxiety, something Liam Price has participated in.
"Liam, with the Ambassador Council, they’ve been trying to think of ways to support the community during this. One thing they thought they’d do is participate — participating in as many things as they can and getting their Ambassadors out there spreading the word," Cindy Price said.
When producers of the commencement event approached the Special Olympics, they reached out to Liam Price and Elizabeth Price, as they had been a positive voice of inclusiveness already.
They recorded a meeting on Zoom on Wednesday, which will be shown during the event today and Saturday.
<strong>HOW TO WATCH</strong>
<strong>"#Graduation2020: Facebook and Instagram Celebrate the Class of 2020"</strong>
<strong>What:</strong> A live-streamed celebration of the Class of 2020. The event will be co-hosted by B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, of "The Office" and will feature more than 70 celebrity appearances. Oprah Winfrey will deliver a commencement address. Center Grove High School senior Liam Price will be featured on the broadcast.
<strong>When:</strong> The show will be streamed at 2 p.m. today on Facebook Watch and facebook.com/facebookapp. Highlights and other content from “#Graduation2020” will be posted to the @instagram account.
The broadcast will also air on television, on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox channels at 8 p.m. Saturday.
<strong>Information:</strong> classof2020.fb.com
