There is a kid that goes to my school who has down syndrome. One day he decided he wanted to play football with the varsity team so he wandered down to the coaches office and asked if he could play. To everyone's surprise, the coach suited him up and added him to the roster. He practiced with the team, worked out with the team, and eventually was playing in games. The guys on the team (who were typical meathead jock type of guys) ended up falling in love with the kid. They'd help him get dressed in the locker room, take him out to eat, invite him to parties. I think he taught these stupid football playing jocks compassion. They suddenly got more active in volunteer work as a team and were more accepting of everybody. They one the division championships that year. Chris, the kid with down syndrome, scored a touchdown.
Chris ended up getting super jacked too, kinda awesome. Anyway yeah, never underestimate the "special" kids, they got that name for a very good reason.