SHINE A Special Olympian’s Journey
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image, lest we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them” Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk and Social Activist.
Images courtesy of Kiera Byland 12
Timothy P Shriver shared this quote within a message to the Special Olympics movement on the passing of his mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Eunice, the sibling of US President Kennedy, was the founder of the Special Olympics movement, the largest organisation dedicated to promoting respect, inclusion and acceptance of people with disabilities. Having recognised that people with intellectual disabilities were often stigmatised and unjustly treated, and typically had no place to play, she shared in 1962 via the media, that her sister, Rosemary, had an intellectual disability. This public declaration from Eunice signalled her commitment to create change, and through founding Camp Shriver in 1962 - a back yard summer camp at her Maryland
