The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member served in federal elective office from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held daily, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year nor in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with intellectual disabilities. For her efforts on behalf of disabled people, Shriver was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family. Shriver was the driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps, and founded the Job Corps, Head Start, VISTA, Upward Bound, and other programs as the architect of the 1960s War on Poverty. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1972 presidential election.
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy was the eldest daughter born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to former governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from whom she filed for divorce in 2011 and which was finalized in 2021.
Timothy Perry Shriver is an American disability rights activist, film producer, and former educator who has been Chairman of Special Olympics since 1996 and is the founder of UNITE. He is a member of the Kennedy family as the third child of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and Sargent Shriver, who helped found the Peace Corps.
The Kennedy curse is a series of deaths, accidents, assassinations, and other calamities involving members of the American Kennedy family. The alleged curse has primarily struck the descendants of businessman Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., but it has also affected family friends, associates, and other relatives. Political assassinations and plane crashes have been the most common manifestations of the "curse". Following the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969, Ted Kennedy is quoted saying he questioned if "some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys." However skeptics argue that it is not improbable for a large extended family to experience similar events over the course of several generations.
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It supports and conducts research aimed at improving the health of children, adults, families, and communities, including:
Best Buddies International is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It consists of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The program's main purpose is to allow volunteers to be paired up with a buddy with an intellectual and developmental disability and provide them with a friend or a mentor. Best Buddies is the world's largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with IDD. It is an international movement that has spread to over 54 countries worldwide.
Special Olympics Canada is a national organization founded in 1969 to help people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence and social skills through sports training and competition.
My Brother is a 2006 film directed by Academy Award nominee Anthony Lover. It stars Vanessa L. Williams, Tatum O'Neal, Nashawn Kearse and Fredro Starr. It also stars two first time actors with Down syndrome, Christopher Scott and Donovan Jennings. Two developmentally disabled actors played leading roles, and also an African-American actor with a developmental disability played a leading role.
Loretta Claiborne is an American global speaker and multi-sport athlete who competes in the Special Olympics. She has been honored with the 1996 Arthur Ashe ESPY Courage Award presented to her by Denzel Washington. Claiborne was the first Special Olympics athlete elected to the Special Olympics International Board of Directors.
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the "lace curtain" Irish American community in Boston. Her father, John F. Fitzgerald, served in the Massachusetts State Senate (1892–1894), in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as Mayor of Boston. Her husband, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., chaired the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1934–1935) and the U.S. Maritime Commission (1937–1938), and served as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1938–1940). Their nine children included United States President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith. In 1951, Rose Kennedy was ennobled by Pope Pius XII, becoming the sixth American woman to be granted the rank of Papal countess.
H. Rutherford Turnbull III -- Rud --is an American author, educator and leader in the field of disability policy and law. He is Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor Emeritus of special education and law at University of Kansas. He was the principal draftsman or staff person for the NC Senate and House in revising that state's disability laws while being professor of public law and government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1969-80). During his professorship at The University of Kansas (1980-2015), he was principal staff for the federal Assistive Technology Act and the family support provisions of the Rehab Act; principal draftsman of the "procedural safeguards" regulations under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. He has been an expert witness on disability policy before Congressional and state legislative committees. Together with his wife Ann, he created The Beach Center on Disability at The University of Kansas, a graduate research and training center on families and disability. He also served as chairman of the university's Department of Special Education (1980-1983). He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and over 36 books. He has been an expert witness on disability policy in Congress and in state legislatures. He has been president, Am. Ass'n. on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; chairman, board of trustees of Judge David L. Bazelon Center on Mental Health Law; senior officer of The Arc of U.S.; senior officer of TASH: The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps; and chair of the Am Bar Ass's committee on disability law. Together with his wife Ann and alongside of Pres. J.F. Kennedy and his sister Eunice Shriver, he was recognized by a consortium of seven family and professional associations in the field of intellectual/developmental disabilities as one of 36 people who changed the course of history in the 20th Century. He has taught courses at Johns Hopkins University, University of Illinois, University of North Carolina, and University of Connecticut, and he has consulted and taught in more than 20 countries. He has received over 40 accommodations from federal, state, and local professional and family service and advocacy organizations for his leadership. He is the father of Jay (1967-2009), a person with intellectual disabilities, autism, and emotional challenges; and of Amy and Kate, both civil rights advocates. The University of Kansas Archives contains his professional correspondence, especially that concerning the services he and his wife created on behalf of their son Jay and on behalf of other families and individuals affected by disabilities. He was born in New York City, raised in Bronxville, N.Y., graduated from Kent School, Kent, CT. (1955); Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland Law School, Ll.B., 1964, and Harvard Law School. He served in the U.S. Army, 1962-3.
Jean Ann Kennedy Smith was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine children, and youngest daughter, born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Her siblings included President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was also a sister-in-law of Jacqueline Kennedy.
Special Olympics Pakistan is an official recognized program of Special Olympics International which operates in Pakistan as not-for-profit organization and works with intellectually disabled individuals and help them through participation in sports.
The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) is an advisory body that provides assistance to the President of the United States and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public policy issues related to intellectual disability. It was started as a blue-ribbon panel by John F. Kennedy in 1961, and later reorganized through executive order into an official panel by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, with the goal of ensuring the right to a "decent, dignified place in society". Originally known as the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, it was eventually renamed in 2003 by George W. Bush over concerns regarding negative labelling. It was established through the work of Eunice Kennedy Shriver while serving as the head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.
Special Olympics Ireland is a sporting organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities that operates in the Island of Ireland. It is part of the global Special Olympics movement.
Alison Nenos Cernich is an American neuropsychologist specializing in traumatic brain injury and computerized neuropsychological assessment. She is the deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Cernich was previously deputy director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, assistant professor of neurology at University of Maryland School of Medicine, and chief of neuropsychology at the VA Maryland Health Care System.
