The Kennedy family is internationally famous for their high-achieving, beautiful, and influential members. But America took a stand to help the intellectually disabled because of the daughter they hid away: Rosemary. While surpassing her siblings in beauty and personality, Rosemary was born intellectually disabled and soon lagged behind her fast-moving family. Her parents believed […]




 


The Kennedy family is internationally famous for their high-achieving, beautiful, and influential members. But America took a stand to help the intellectually disabled because of the daughter they hid away: Rosemary. While surpassing her siblings in beauty and personality, Rosemary was born intellectually disabled and soon lagged behind her fast-moving family. Her parents believed that if they held Rosemary to the same standards as her siblings, she would overcome her disability- and therefore, she never truly got the help or education she needed.

After blossoming in London, Rosemary returned to the country that pushed her aside, and she began regressing. Soon her tantrums led to seizures and her parents didn’t know what to do. Her eldest brother was being groomed to be the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States. and they couldn’t afford any mistakes. And so Joseph Kennedy, Sr brought Rosemary in for a lobotomy.


 


SOURCES:


 


ROSEMARY: THE HIDDEN KENNEDY DAUGHTER, Kate Clifford Larson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015.


Disability discrimination in the Bible


Eunice Kennedy Shriver


JFK Library website