During the mid nineteen hundred, disabled people were considered useless and were not accepted by the “normal” population. Eunice Kennedy Shriver changed the view on the disabled or also called “retarded” population by founding Camp Shriver, and working with the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation to establish the first ever Special Olympics. These major changes ultimately created rights and finally made the “retarded” an accepted population.
“In the 1950s, the mentally retarded were among the most scorned, isolated and neglected groups in American society.” During this time, the mentally retarded were considered useless and were pushed away from the “normal” society. (10) Parents in this time were scared about having children and labeling them
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This organization is “dedicated to empowering people with intellectual disabilities to realize their full potential and develop their skills through year-round training in sports and competition."(8). THe first games were held in Chicago in Soldier Field. There were more than one thousand participants that came from a total of twenty-six states, and Canada. In the Special Olympics Summer Games of 2003 held in Dublin, Ireland, there were around six-thousand-five-hundred athletes from around 150 countries (7). "The Special Olympics gives mentally retarded children an opportunity to experience success, to gain confidence, and to achieve physical and mental development through a program of active sports and fitness training, involving running, Jumping, throwing and swimming."(4). The next games are scheduled to be held in Austria in 2017 for the Winter Games. Austria was also the country to host the first ever Special Olympics World Winter Games outside of the U.S., so this makes these coming games even more memorable …show more content…
The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation funded many different scientists and researchers with millions of dollars, and focused on finding many ways to prevent intellectual disabilities (18). For a very long period of time, there was no way to help anyone with mental disorders, families and doctors just put their children and patients in asylums to keep them away from the public. Camp Shriver gave hope the the parents of these mentally challenged children, it let the parents and public know that these people still have lives to live and they aren’t meant to be trapped in an asylum or special school. It also opened up the eyes of Eunice to the physical activities that the intellectually challenged could accomplish, just like a normal person. The Special Olympics also gave a worldwide view of the mentally ill, and informed the world that these people had the same physical abilities and have the rights to compete just like the athletes of the original Olympics (7).
Overall, Eunice Kennedy Shriver made an unending impact on the world today. She defied society by incorporating the mentally handicap in many activities. She brought them out of the darkness of their asylums and introduced them to what a normal life was like. The Special Olympics are now a biannual tradition that gives the handicap a time to express and show their physical abilities and give them their own opportunity
The experience changed her life, she learned to rethink her own attitude and self determination. I learned that people with mental retardation are not to be separated from society or even treated with less respect because of their disability. “Riding the Bus with My Sister” taught me to never neglect people with mental disabilities. Readers learned that people with mental retardation, just like everyone else, have families, desires, and determination. They cry, they laugh, they have emotions just like the rest of us. We can learn new things from those suffering from mental retardation. ‘Riding the Bus with My Sister” taught me that civil rights apply to
Labeling theory is an issue that has been raised that deserves a closer look. Labeling theory, the impression that the public labels certain people as different from the normal conduct. (Popple and Leighninger, 2011) Everyone labels in society. An actor can be labeled into a certain part thought out his/her career. A boss is labeled horrible for firing one individual. Society uses labels and it defines people. The book brought up two points of labeling that should be explored. The first point is the label of developmental disabilities will give a diagnosis. People who have developmental disabilities have it, and they cannot change the situation. It can be manageable, but there will always be the label. The second point is that the society label and perception of the label. There is a stigma in the public about developmental disabilities. Although more accepted than mental illness, developmental disability has a label of individuals being stupid and slow. Labeling theory can be seen throughout history. Chapter thirteen points out that history can shape individual’s label of developmentally disabilities.
“I felt I could do good for other persons with disabilities precisely because I had authority from that medical degree.” This line makes the reader stop for a moment and really evaluate what has been said, due to the contrary effect that was intimated from the beginning. The switch from negativity to positivity demonstrates the change from the author’s feeling has changed and how society has changed.This revelation brings us to the end, how she said she hopes the next generation will see things differently, “Disability right thus aren’t something we seek only for others. We must also seem them for the ones we love and for ourselves.” The author stating this at the very end reflects people who have the disability need to help themselves and have disability right, not just looking for help from others.
Baynton, Douglas. "Disability and Justification of Inequality in American History." The New Disability History. New York: New York University Press, 2001. 285-294. Print.
Among those citizens were the mentally ill. During the era of the Great Depression, the mentally handicapped were treated unfairly in almost every aspect of their lives; this included how society treated them, how they were treated medically, and even how their personal lives were affected. Throughout the Great Depression the mentally disabled were treated harshly and were almost constantly being harassed by society. The mentally ill were treated in this cruel manner because they were seen as the cause of some of society’s problems of that day in age.
In the 1950’s, it was common so see people with frightened, uneasy, rejecting, and even arrogant attitudes towards people with mental illnesses. They considered those who were mentally ill as psychotic, violent and frightening. In the today, people are more accepting and understanding when it comes to mental illness, but some people are still ignorant with their responses, just like back then. In the 1950’s mental health treatment was typically provided in large state hospitals and other intuitions. Back then, topics like mental health were kept hush hush; people much rather putting those who were mentally in away in a state facility where someone else could monitor them. Today, people are more understanding.
Robert Edgerton began studying mental disability in the late 1960s. Edgerton was interested to discover how deinstitutionalized intellectually disabled adults adapted to life in the community and how they coped with the stigma of being labeled mentally retarded. He argued that they utilized a 'cloak of competence' to hide both the stigma of their discredited past and their inherent incompetence.
Nancy Mairs, born in 1943, described herself as a radical feminist, pacifist, and cripple. She is crippled because she has multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a chronic disease involving damage to the nerve cells and spinal cord. In her essay Disability, Mairs’ focus is on how disabled people are portrayed, or rather un-portrayed in the media. There is more than one audience that Mairs could have been trying to reach out to with this piece. The less-obvious audience would be disabled people who can connect to her writing because they can relate to it. The more obvious audience would be physically-able people who have yet to notice the lack of disabled people being portrayed by the media. Her purpose is to persuade the audience that disabled people should be shown in the media more often, to help society better cope with and realize the presence of handicapped people. Mairs starts off by saying “For months now I’ve been consciously searching for representation of myself in the media, especially television. I know I’d recognize this self becaus...
The Special Olympics date back all the way to the year 1968. Many see these Games as a time to honor someone who is able to “overcome” a task, but author William Peace sees this as an insulting portrayal of people with disabilities. Peace is a multidisciplinary school teacher and scholar that uses a wheel chair and writes about the science behind disabilities and handicaps. As a physically handicapped individual, Peace is able to observe a negative portrayal of disabled persons. In his article titled, “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports,” William Peace offers his own personal insight, utilizes several statistics regarding handicaps, as well as numerous rhetorical appeals in order to communicate to the “common man”
In the 1900’s lots of people who had disabilities were put into institutions.People were, so...
For many decades the mentally ill or insane have been hated, shunned, and discriminated against by the world. They have been thrown into cruel facilities, said to help cure their mental illnesses, where they were tortured, treated unfairly, and given belittling names such as retards, insane, demons, and psychos. However, reformers such as Dorothea Dix thought differently of these people and sought to help them instead. She saw the inhumanity in these facilities known as insane asylums or mental institutions, and showed the world the evil that wandered inside these asylums. Although movements have been made to improve conditions in insane asylums, and were said to help and treat the mentally ill, these brutally abusive places were full of disease and disorder, and were more like concentration camps similar to those in Europe during WWII than hospitals.
Special Olympics is an association that allows the disabled to be active by participating and competing in the sport events. In the 1950s through the 1960s, Eunice Kennedy Shriver realized the difference in the way people acted toward the special needs population and the difference in the way people acted toward others. She began to think about the disadvantages of the disabled and their ability to do activities. She knew they were capable of doing some activities, but no one tried to make a difference in the way the special needs were treated. Shriver hated the fact that the disabled were ignored because people didn’t believe the special needs people were the same as others (Meyer).
Abstract: The Special Olympics not only give special athletes athletic skills, they offer more opportunity, encouragement, and dexterity to survive in society than the public school system alone. To understand the differences and similarities between handicapped athletes and their non-handicap peers is the first step in creating a program that best meets the child's needs. There were no community programs that catered to the mentally and physically challenged, so Eunice Kennedy-Shriver created "special games" in her back yard for her handicapped child. Shriver established the Special Olympics in 1968. Today there are more than one million special athletes competing in 140 countries. There are some problems with relying on the public school system to seek a child's full potential in the special education programs. The Special Olympics, however, have found an effective method of preparing children, teens, and adults for society through sport. The diverse selection of sports, their rules, and physical demands, is an advantage when there is a huge range of disabilities. There is a program offered for almost everyone. People who benefit from these games range from the athletes themselves, the officials, coaches, caregivers, parents, to the spectators and on-site first aid staff. Mrs. Kennedy-Shriver said this in regard to special athletes, "through sports, they can realize their potential for growth." Over and over this fantastic organization has demonstrated integrity, good sportsmanship, and goal oriented programs that work!
Disability: Any person who has a mental or physical deterioration that initially limits one or more major everyday life activities. Millions of people all over the world, are faced with discrimination, the con of being unprotected by the law, and are not able to participate in the human rights everyone is meant to have. For hundreds of years, humans with disabilities are constantly referred to as different, retarded, or weird. They have been stripped of their basic human rights; born free and are equal in dignity and rights, have the right to life, shall not be a victim of torture or cruelty, right to own property, free in opinion and expression, freedom of taking part in government, right in general education, and right of employment opportunities. Once the 20th century
In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...