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But your immediate family it seems like
the intellectually disabled, the developmentally challenged
has been a particular passion.
Well my mom’s sister, Rosemary Kennedy,
was developmentally challenged
so she started Special Olympics to really prove to the world
that people with intellectual disabilities
could not only compete on the playing field,
they could hold down jobs, they could go to school
they could be productive members of society.
So we’ve come a long way since she started the program,
there’s still a lot more to be done around the world,
but we really hope that Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day
will be a day where people will go out and play
will go out and reach out, to invite people
with intellectual disabilities into their lives,
into society, and play with them
because, as we all know, in play,
you learn a lot about another human being.
And for more information on that, obviously,
EuniceKennedyShriver.org.
Now you also mention Best Buddies
which is a family affair as well,
your younger brother founded it, you’ve been involved in it.
I’ve been involved, it’s in schools all over this country
all over the world, in colleges, high schools
and it pairs a person with a non-intellectual disability
with someone who has one
and they go out, the go to the movies,
they learn a lot, they become part of each other’s lives
because one of the biggest issues facing people
with intellectual disabilities, that they’re not included
in the everyday activities that all of us get to take for granted
and they’re also not employed,
so Best Buddies seeks to kind of break down
the barriers in both of those areas.
Tom Brady of the Patriots also involved.
Very active, very, very active.
He has a football game in Boston,
they have a ride down to Hyannis Port,
he’s been a great champion,
great friend of Best Buddies.
You mentioned how important sports is to your family,
I mean you hear all the legendary stories
about your uncles JFK and Bobby and Teddy
playing football on the Hyannis Port lawn.
You had mentioned that your mother actually
played tackle football with the boys at times.
Yes she did.
Did you ever get in there and mix it up?
Yeah, she raised me playing tackle football
and it wasn’t until I got into college
that I realized that that was kind of weird.
You know, all of my friends would come over
and go, I don’t want to be tackled
and I’d say, really, why not?
But she believe women could do everything a man could do
and so she raised me that way.
So I’m really thrilled that this day in honor of her,
we need a day in honor of a woman.
A woman who fought for change,
who was a warrior for change
and who really did accomplish her goals.
So I think it’s a great day of play
and the understanding that we learn, as I said,
so much through the act of play and the inclusion
of someone who’s different from us in our daily lives.