'The Sun Has Burst Through'

Brighter days are ahead for the retarded-but they still need your understanding

By Mrs. Sargent Shriver
Parade Magazine
February 2, 1964

This Wednesday, the nation's attention will be focused on progress in the fight against mental retardation. At a banquet in New York City, attended by President Johnson, the Joseph P. Kennedy International Awards in Mental Retardation will be presented to those who have contributed most in scientific achievement, service and leadership in this field in 1963. Among those honored will be Rep. John Fogarty and Sen. Lister Hill, who have helped guide to passage a federal bill to provide $229 million for research and facilities in retardation and mental illness, signed by President Kennedy just before his death. The need to aid the handicapped is still acute. The following article, by the late President's sister, points up that need.

You may not be a member of the one in three families experiencing the tragedy of mental retardation. But if you are a parent or expect to become one, if you love children, the subject should concern you. Please take 15 minutes to read this article. It may save you years of anguish.

I know. My sister, Rosemary, is retarded. But I cannot help her with pity-or serve with sorrow the 5 million others like her.

Only by facing the facts and resolving to meet the challenge head-on can something be done. Only if we broaden our understanding can we help the mentally retarded to escape into the sunlight of useful living. Even more important, we can prevent millions yet unborn from ever becoming mentally retarded.

First, I want to shatter the notion that the birth of a retarded child implies some kind of social stigma, something to be hidden and ashamed of. Retarded children are born to the healthiest and wealthiest, to the brilliant as well as the meek. They have been born to actors, generals, tycoons, statesmen and Nobel Prize Winners.

200 Different Causes

Second, we need to understand mental retardation for what it really is. It is an affliction, not some witch's curse. It can be traced to over 200 different causes. More people are affected by mental retardation than by blindness, paralytic polio, cerebral palsy and rheumatic heart disease combined. That it takes such an appalling toll can be blamed largely on the stupid and persistent superstitions that have long surrounded the subject.