Small Steps, Great Strides

To an extent, it has been a movement that sells itself. "When people meet individuals with intellectual disabilities," says Peter Wheeler, the chief communications officer of Special Olympics, "it invariably makes people change the way they think. We say our program is the best export ever developed. Take it anywhere in the world and it's accepted, no matter what your philosophy, religion or political background." There were watershed moments along the way, particularly the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 and later the Americans with Disabilities Act—with Harkin as chief sponsor—which together greatly expanded the rights of the disabled. The adoption of Special Olympics as a cause in the '70s by celebrities such as Susan Saint James and Rafer Johnson also helped.

But always it was Eunice, shoulder to the wheel, cajoling, lobbying, wheedling, quarterbacking, stirring it up. The 2007 Games in Shanghai were a remarkable success by any standard, but a day or two after their completion Eunice was on the phone with her son. "China was a success," she told Tim, "but we have a lot of work to do in Bosnia."

And elsewhere. The intellectually disabled population is increasing at a pace proportional to the world's population. More than 190 million people in the world have an intellectual disability, about 7.5 million in the U.S. They are bullied, sexually abused, ignored and unemployed at a far greater rate than the nonimpaired population.

But to say that the lot of people with intellectual disabilities has improved because of Special Olympics would be a gross understatement. Shriver's movement did nothing less than release an entire population from a prison of ignorance and misunderstanding. It did something else, too—create a cathartic covenant between competitor and fan that is unlike anything else in sport. You watch and what you see is nothing less than a transformation, the passage of someone who has been labeled unfortunate, handicapped, disabled or challenged to something else: athlete.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver knew this could happen. Forty years ago she could see it all. For that, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED recognizes her as one of those revolutionaries who saw opportunity where others saw barriers, someone who started a movement and changed a world.