By Joe Shapiro, National Public Radio:

Judi Chamberlin, an outspoken advocate for the rights and dignity of people with mental illness, died of lung disease over the weekend at her home in Arlington, Mass. She was 65.

Shapiro calls her “a civil rights hero from a civil rights movement you may never have heard of.”

Chamberlin’s road to advocacy began when she was hospitalized against her will for depression in 1966, and was shocked by the way she was treated. She wrote a book, On Our Own, that became a manifesto for patients and influenced the mental health establishment.

She called her movement “Mad Pride,” and argued that people with mental illness need to have a say in their own treatment. An excerpt:

Chamberlin told people with mental illness that they were, like everyone else, people with quirks and differences, but with strengths and abilities, too. She wanted people to reclaim the description “mad” as something that was OK.

“She changed it from a word that was a pejorative word,” says [Robert] Whitaker [author of Mad in America, a history of the treatment of people with mental illness in the United States]. “That was saying to the world at large: We are worthy individuals, and our minds our worthy, and they’re to be respected.”

See also:

– Facing death, a plea for the dignity of psychiatric patients — Boston Globe

– Bibliography from the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy

From the New York Times, Harvard Crimson:

Dr. Leon Eisenberg, a pioneer in researching autism and other developmental and learning disabilities, has died of cancer at the age of 87.

Eisenberg was among the first to study possible drug treatments for attention deficit disorders, and to demonstrate that language problems could predict the severity of autism in children.

Dr. James Harris, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins University, said that Dr. Eisenberg was “the pivotal person in 20th-century child psychiatry who moved the field from simple descriptions of childhood disorders to actually looking at the science behind both the diagnosis and treatment.”

… In his later years, Dr. Eisenberg became increasingly alarmed at trends in the field he helped establish, criticizing what he saw as a cozy relationships between drug makers and doctors and the expanding popularity of the attention deficit diagnosis.

(Harvard photo in the New York Times)

From the BBC, [UK] Guardian:

Lady Nicky Chapman, the first person with a congenital disability to be appointed to the British House of Lords, has died. She was 48.

Baroness Chapman was born with brittle bone disease and elected to the House of Lords as a “people’s peer” in 2004. She was known as a fierce advocate whose complaints about a taxi driver who would not transport her led to broad enforcement of the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act.

Chapman said she was written off by doctors at birth as someone who would be blind, deaf, and unable to communicate, and would have “no noticeable mental function.” She used this personal story to powerful effect in debates on such issues as the right to die, “reminding peers and the wider world of how often doctors are wrong, and how stout the human spirit can be.”

From Mike Donnelly in the [UK] Guardian:

She had the special power to make people grow and be the best of themselves. She made us stretch towards a higher understanding of what it means to be different. In a profound way she shook people’s perception of normality and what it means to be human.

An excerpt of a reminiscence by Scott Stossel, Sargent Shriver’s biographer, in the Atlantic:

She could be difficult, and she could be fearsome; though I grew fond of her, and she stopped actively making my life miserable, she never stopped terrifying me. She was, quite simply, the most formidable woman I have ever met. Her legacy is profound and inspiring.

From  Boston Globe (with video), Boston Herald, AP/Washington Post,and elsewhere.

Officials and Special Olympians, who were clad in ribbons, led the funeral procession carrying a Special Olympics torch to St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in Hyannis yesterday, paying tribute to their champion, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Loretta Claiborne, a former Special Olympics athlete and longtime friend of Shriver’s, said in her opening remarks, “She was chosen to have a life to serve others, the weakest of the weak, the castaways, the throwaways of society, at the time they would say the mentally retarded, and I am one of those people.”

Shriver’s daughter, California First Lady Maria Shriver, said of her mother during the eulogy, “If she were here today … she would pound this podium … and ask each of you what you have done today to better the world.”

Other guests who attended the private two-hour funeral Mass included Vice President Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Shriver’s brother Sen. Ted Kennedy, who has brain cancer, did not attend the funeral.

See also:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver—Editorial in Cape Cod Times

Photos: Eunice Shriver’s Funeral Mass—New York Times: The Caucus Blog

Special needs adults mourn Shriver at funeral—Boston Globe Metro Desk

(Boston Globe photo)

From the Boston Globe (with video), Boston Herald,  Associated Press and National Public Radio:

Thousand of mourners gathered at Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church in Cape Cod Thursday to honor Eunice Kennedy Shriver, celebrating the Special Olympics founder as a passionate humanitarian.

At the six-hour public wake, Shriver’s five children — including Shriver’s daughter, Maria, and son-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger — expressed gratitude and listened to the stories of all who came to pay their respects. Guests included Special Olympians, Oprah Winfrey, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Among the steady stream of mourners who flowed into church was Mike Rhodes, a 25-year-old mentally disabled man who left a handmade card for Shriver.

On it was written a simple message: “She taught us to stand tall.”

Shriver’s private invitation-only funeral Mass will be held today at St. Francis Xavier church in Hyannis, and vice president Joe Biden is expected to attend.

See also:

Eunice Shriver believed all deserved dignity, joy — Kansas City Star

One Special Olympian — New York Times

Biden to attend service for Eunice Kennedy Shriver — Associated Press

Earlier posts here.

(Loretta Claiborne and Maria Shriver, AP photo)

Rosemary Kennedy was inspiration for Eunice

Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham says Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s accomplishments were inspired by the life of her older sister. Rosemary Kennedy was born with mild developmental disabilities, and was sent to an institution when a lobotomy in 1941 left her incapacitated.

The family kept silent about Rosemary for the next two decades, until Eunice wrote an article about her in the Saturday Evening Post in 1962. The piece argued that people with intellectual disabilities have value and deserve respect, and that they should be integrated into society and be given opportunities for work and education.

… Eunice was never comfortable accepting credit for her achievements, which rival those of her brothers. Even at a tribute to her in 2007, the woman who many allowed might have been president if only she’d been born a man tried to pass the praise along — to Rosemary.

“I am lucky that I experienced the sting of rejection as a woman who was told that the real power was not for me,’’ she said at the JFK Library and Museum. “I am lucky that I saw . . . Rosemary treated with the most unbearable rejection.

“It’s really that simple,’’ said Rosemary’s sister. “Love gave me confidence and adversity gave me purpose.’’

Earlier posts here.