Ted Kennedy, Jr, To Speak

On Disability Issues

FAIRFIELD — Ted Kennedy, Jr, a senator’s son who has turned early tragedy into a life of advocacy, education, and public service, will deliver “Facing the Challenge,” the second annual lecture of the Lily Endowment for the Ignatian College, on Wednesday, April 21, at 7:30 pm at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. His talk is part of Open VISIONS Forum, a program of University College.

Following in the tradition of his family’s dedication to public services, Ted Kennedy, Jr, has devoted his life and work to being the voice behind the poster child. Lecturing to the community, he suggests everyone should all come together to bolster self-esteem and identify role models for people with disabilities. Examining the vital importance of debunking myths, he hopes to show audiences that quality of life for people with disabilities is not poor, only different.

The son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, he lost one of his legs to bone cancer in 1973. Almost three decades later, he continues to work as an advocate for the civil rights of people with disabilities and terminal illnesses.

Executive director of Facing the Challenge, a nonprofit advocacy and public policy office for disability-related issues, he is also a teaching fellow on disability policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

In addition, he has been on the executive council of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the executive committee of the 1995 Special Olympics, and, since 1992, has worked on the research faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine. He is currently studying environmental factors that may lead to disease and disability.

Mr Kennedy received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and he holds a master’s degree from Yale and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is married to Katherine Kennedy, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. The couple has two children.

Tickets are $22, $18.50 for seniors. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit the website www.quickcenter.com.