Eunice Kennedy Shriver: Champion of Special Olympics

The Kennedy family stories are well known in the United States, especially those of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Teddy Kennedy. But one Kennedy story not well known is that of Rosemary, the second Kennedy child, who was born with mild mental retardation, as it was called at the time.

Rosemary’s status worsened after a lobotomy was performed with the intention to help her. The result was that she spent most of her life in an institution and died in 2005 at the age of 86.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, fifth of the nine Kennedy children, visited Rosemary regularly and eventually channeled her competitiveness into doing good for the people with intellectual disabilities. It started small, with a summer camp at the Shriver family home in Maryland that they called Camp Shriver. Eventually she and husband Sargent created the Special Olympics.

The first national Special Olympics was held in Chicago in 1968 with 1,000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada. Now, more than 40 years later and having influenced perceptions about people with intellectual disabilities throughout the world, 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games expect 7,500 athletes from 185 countries. The 2011 Games, consisting of 22 Olympic-type events, will be held June 25-July 4 in Athens, Greece.

For some great stories on Eunice Kennedy Shriver, try these links:

http://www.eunicekennedyshriver.org/bios/si/page/1

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9136962

For information on the upcoming World Summer Games.

This is the first of a series of posts on the Shriver family. Tim, Mark, Bobby and Maria.