Robert Epstein: What's
Wrong With Timmy?is an unusual book, as are all
three of your books.
Maria Shriver: This book is somewhat of a sequel to one I wrote a
few years ago called
What's Heaven?That book tells the story of a little
girl asking questions about her great-grandmother's death. Parents still
come up to me, saying it had a profound effect on their lives and the
lives of their children. Since then, parents have asked me to write books
about other issues.
I have spent my life around people with developmental disabilities
and the Special Olympics, and my own children have asked me the question,
“What's wrong with that kid?” So I thought that this would be
a good subject to broach. This is a way of getting parents and their kids
into discussion.
What do you think of the movies “Forrest Gump” and
“I Am Sam?”
I love them. Particularly “I Am Sam,” which shows a
person with a developmental disability holding down a job and offering
the same kind of love and parenting that all of us strive to give our own
children. Both films are very moving and helpful in terms of
understanding and breaking down stereotypes.
When I was reading your book, a very old memory popped into my
head: I was friends with a young man, Willy, who was developmentally
disabled. He wasn't in school, and he lived with his parents. My mom was
uneasy about my friendship with him. But he taught me how to make a
parachute with Saran Wrap and how to repair bicycles. He was a great
friend.
You should share this with your own children, because I think
children are very interested in their parents' stories and how they deal
with issues. That's why, in my book, I had Kate asking her mother,
“So you had the same experience? You also were scared and
tongue-tied?” Kids feel safer when they recognize that their
parents have had similar experiences.
Absolutely. And there's a long process involved in destigmatizing
any disability.
Or any kind of difference. This book came out three weeks after
September 11. I feel strongly about using it as a teaching tool about
accepting differences, whether it's a disability, religion, skin color or
gender. I am talking about tolerance and acceptance and inclusion. These
are important issues to discuss with kids. More and more, we are seeing
articles about mean girls, exclusion and bullying.
When we talk about the developmentally disabled in the mainstream,
aren't we talking about the exceptional ones? The ones who are very high
functioning?
No. About 90 percent of people with developmental disabilities can
be full members of society. That means they can go to school, hold down a
job, have friends and get married. We have a slogan at Special Olympics:
“Get with the program.” People with developmental
disabilities have changed drastically in the last 30 years. They are in
the mainstream. I visited Hearst Castle with my kids the other day, and
all the grounds people were developmentally disabled. And we went to the
Marriott hotel, where thousands of people with developmental disabilities
are employed. I have a developmentally disabled buddy who works at my
home.
The perfect analogy is, of course, the elderly. We used to discard
them. We used to say they are not capable of anything. And now we are
rapidly accepting that age is not a good predictor of what you can
contribute. So you are saying that that label, whichever you
use—“mental retardation” or “developmental
disability”—is not a good predictor of what someone can
contribute.
I am against labels and stereotypes in general. I hate when people
say, “Oh, there's a pretty girl, she must be dumb”;
“There's an African American, he must be in trouble with the
law”; “There's a person with a developmental disability and
she can't go to school.” We need to accept people for who they are.
Right now we have a terrible issue with labeling Arab Americans and
Muslims. Everybody has a heart attack when an Arab walks by. Labels do us
a disservice. I think people put labels on others to make themselves feel
more comfortable.
One of the reasons you got involved with the disabled is because of
your aunt, Rosemary.
My mother's oldest sister, Rosemary Kennedy, is developmentally
disabled. This was why my mother started Special Olympics. She saw her
sister included in every aspect of their lives, unlike others with
developmental disabilities who were put into institutions and shunned
back in the '60s. So she set about making it her life's mission to bring
respect and acceptance to people with developmental disabilities and
their families.
But Rosemary, when she was younger, was lobotomized.
Rosemary was an accepted and included part of the family, and I am
not here to talk about her life. I am here to talk about the lives of
those who have developmental disabilities and the acceptance of that. I'm
not here to invade other people's privacy; I am sure you can respect
that.
Absolutely. May I ask how she's doing?
Rosemary is terrific; my mother is very involved in her life, as is
our whole family.
I'll certainly respect your privacy. Let's talk about your new
book. The story describes a relationship between a little girl, Kate, and
a boy named Timmy. Tell me about their first meeting.
Tags:
bicycles,
developmental disability,
forrest gump,
great grandmother,
Heaven,
i am sam,
little girl,
Maria Shriver,
Olympics,
parachute,
parenting,
people with developmental disabilities,
profound effect,
robert epstein,
saran wrap,
sequel,
special olympics,
stereotypes,
timmy,
young man
