Ben Higgison (left) and Mitchell Brown with Brown's mentor Hayley Little. Photo / Aimee Muller

When Ben Higgison got the email confirming he had been selected as an athlete leader, he did not believe it.

It was not until his basketball coach and now mentor, Tina Maitland, called to congratulate him that it felt real.

“I just screamed my lungs out”, 38-year-old Higgison said.

Similarly, fellow Tauranga athlete Mitchell Brown – who was also selected for the Special Olympics New Zealand leadership programme – couldn’t stop talking to his mentor about it.

Before this week’s National Summer Games, Higgison and Brown have taken up leadership roles designed to highlight the voices of people with intellectual disabilities.

Special Olympics NZ chief executive Fran Scholey said the Athlete Leadership Programme (ALP) was built to empower athletes to see themselves as leaders.

The programme develops communication, independence, governance, community leadership and wellbeing skills.

It also creates opportunities for athletes to speak in their communities about the Special Olympics, intellectual impairments and their own experiences.

Brown, a track-and-field athlete, hoped the programme would help him improve his speaking and coaching skills.

“I believe you can never be too old to learn,” he said.

Brown, who has a visual impairment, has competed at six Special Olympics events, including one in Athens.

“Having a disability is hard, but we are now in the position to make a difference,” he said.

Through the ALP training, Brown planned to teach others that “just because I look different doesn’t mean I am”.

With his 40th birthday around the corner, Brown said this felt like a new chapter.

Ben Higgison (left) and Mitchell Brown. Photo / Aimee Muller

“I’m excited about my new journey. I don’t want to step away from athletics; I want to help them”.

His mentor, Hayley Little, completed the ALP last year and said seeing Brown’s enthusiasm made her proud.

“It’s a big step, but it is all about helping him to be the better Mitch.”

Higgison sees the programme as the next step in a journey he has been building through basketball and his personal life for years.

As his team prepared to head to Christchurch for the Summer Games this week, he was most excited to see all the development and passion from his teammates, and to continue growing his skills during the competition.

Describing himself as an “influencer-style leader”, he wanted to help others view themselves beyond their disability.

“No matter my disability, I don’t class myself as that. I can make my own way,” he said.

Higgison is also passionate about inclusion beyond sport. He wanted to see more businesses welcoming people with impairments into their workplace, inspired by his teammate’s experiences.

“His boss doesn’t view him any different and this sparked my interest.”

Maitland said her mentoring role was to guide him, not direct him.

“Ben learns differently, but there is nothing he can’t attempt,” she said.

A long-time coach, she believed he already showed the instincts of someone who could one day coach.

“He’s got great leadership skills already.”

As both athletes head to Christchurch for the Summer Games – which begin on Wednesday – and into their first year as emerging leaders, they hoped their journey showed others what was possible.

By demonstrating how learning and leading can empower their communities.

Aimee Muller is a journalism student at the University of Canterbury.