If the McCain-Palin ticket were to win, Palin would be the highest-ranking American politician since President Kennedy to have an immediate relative who had a disability. Kennedy's sister, Rosemary, had intellectual disabilities.
Another sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics, an organization with which the Shriver clan remains deeply involved.
"The more advocates there are for children with special needs, the better," said Anthony Shriver, founder of Best Buddies, which has raised money and provided services for children with such disabilities for 20 years.
But he is somewhat skeptical about Palin and the Republican Party.
"Historically, Republicans haven't been that interested," Shriver said. "To have an advocate in the Republican Party is a new twist and welcome addition."
Shriver said that last year his sister, California First Lady Maria Shriver, sent letters to the nation's governors asking them to employ people with intellectual disabilities. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made two such hires. Palin replied that she would refer the matter to an aide and did not commit to making a hire.
In Anthony Shriver's view, Palin "kind of blew us off."
Before Palin stepped onto the national stage, however, she already had identified herself with the issue.
On her official website as governor is a page on which visitors can leave "comments and blessings" for Trig. More than 600 messages have been left, with many well-wishers mentioning their own family members who have Down syndrome.
As governor, she can point to a track record. In the budget she signed into law this year, Palin approved a dramatic raise in spending on "intensive needs" children, as Alaska officials define them, including those who need nurses full time or cannot breathe without ventilators. When Palin took office in 2006, the state was spending $27,000 a year per child. The budget she signed this year raised that funding to $49,000 per child. In three years, the amount will rise to $74,000, which is roughly equal to the yearly per-child cost of educating special needs children.
The public school teachers union in Alaska, the National Education Assn.-Alaska, lauded Palin's action, although it has not endorsed her.
Several other disability programs received increases. And Palin has nearly doubled state spending to combat fetal alcohol syndrome and has increased spending on adult mental health services by 59%. She also has shifted about $1.25 million in state money to faith-based programs that provide social services.
