Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who established the Special Olympics, was a pioneer of intellectual disabilities rights and inclusion.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver had a very strong sense of fairness. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she observed the grave injustices that those with intellectual disabilities faced, as the majority of such individuals were placed in institutions and kept from participating in most community programs. She saw capable individuals being left behind and being wasted when they had so many talents and skills to offer.
One of Eunice's sisters, Rosemary, was born with an intellectual disability. As young girls, both sisters were active in a few sports and family recreation, including swimming, sailing, skiing, and soccer. Yet in those years, the chances for people with such disabilities to engage in sports were extremely limited.
During her college years, Eunice herself grew into a proficient sportswoman and understood that sports could be a common uniting factor for all people irrespective of their existing differences.
Eunice held the conviction that everyone is capable of great achievements given a level playing field. Therefore, in 1962, she set up a summer day camp in the yard of her house. The primary goal of Camp Shriver was to enable children suffering from intellectual disabilities to try their hand at different sports and movement activities. The success of Camp Shriver formed the basis of what would later be called the Special Olympics.
In July 1968, Chicago, Illinois hosted the First International Special Olympics Games, thereby culminating a great achievement. During the Opening Ceremony, Eunice stated the First Special Olympic Games gave birth to a basic tenet: that even children with mental retardation can become athletes and develop through sports. She assured that the Special Olympics would generate opportunities for the healthy development of people with mental retardation all over the world through participation in play and sports.
It was in Brookline, Massachusetts, on July 10, 1921, that Eunice Mary Kennedy, the fifth of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy’s nine children, was born. A sociology major at Stanford University, she later joined the United States State Department and engaged in different social work assignments following that.
Eunice married Robert Sargent Shriver on May 23, 1953. In 1957, she became the president of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, which was established in memory of her brother, aimed at combating and ameliorating the stigmatization of people with intellectual disabilities.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s commitment and imagination has left behind a global mission that still serves individuals with intellectual disabilities today.