Special Olympics, Narrated by Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer, a bestselling author, and former First Lady of California. She is the founder of the Women's Alzheimer's Movement at Cleveland Clinic and The Sunday Paper, and the co-founder of MOSH. Shriver tells how her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, inspired by her sister Rosemary, founded the Special Olympics movement from a backyard camp built on dignity and inclusion.
Follow Along | #WeAreAmerica250
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Bluesky | Threads
Notes
All photos copyright Special Olympics and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Thank you to Eunice Kennedy Shriver for launching Special Olympics. My son is a long time participant/athlete in our state, most recently winning a gold medal in last year’s state games for bowling. It was his proudest moment.
This is what we need to celebrate for all of our community members with special needs in spite of the DOJs recent memo that has reinterpreted federal civil rights law to claim that states are not legally obligated to serve those with disabilities in community based settings, potentially paving the way for forced institutionalization.
We must be like Eunice Kennedy Shriver and stand up for the rights of all…make a difference!
As the mother of an adult son with Autism and a newly retired Special Education teacher, I value Special Olympics. I have witnessed the joy, accomplishments, camaraderie, teamwork, acceptance and fun that it provides individuals and communities.