Medal honours Special Olympics founder

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver Medal will be awarded annually to the Masters student whose thesis is deemed of special merit in advancing knowledge related to families of people with disabilities, or professional workers who engage with people with disabilities. 

The announcement was made during the week of the Special Olympics World Games, an expression of the life work of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. 

At the ceremony, Mrs Kennedy Shriver said one of the best American ideas is the network of university centres that study developmental disability. “They have been around since my brother was President,” she said, “and they have made an enormous difference in the lives of Americans who have serious lifelong disabilities, like mental disabilities or severe learning disabilities.” 

Following a study visit to the United States in 1995, sponsored by the Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation, an interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Developmental Disabilities was established in UCD. It was the first centre outside the United States to be a member of the American network of University Centres on Disability. 

Postgraduate courses at degree and diploma levels, funded research, international exchange programmes, peer-reviewed publications and a diverse array of conferences, workshops and public lectures are among the activities at the Centre, led by Ireland’s first Professor of Disability Studies, Patricia Noonan Walsh. Mrs Eunice Kennedy Shriver with the President, Dr Cosgrove, and the medal announced for her distinguished service as founder and Honorary Chairman of the Special Olympics.