Kendall Bailey is 19 years old, 6 foot 6, and a champion swimmer headed for the Paralympics in Beijing this September—–but he was almost rendered ineligible by the United States itself. Bailey has cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, and Klinefelter’s syndrome, which prevents his body from producing testosterone. Today’s New York Times profiles his dream to swim in the Paralympics and the efforts of his mother, Connie Shaw, to make sure that this happens:
Kendall Bailey is a rare case of a mentally disabled athlete who also has the physical disabilities to qualify him for the Paralympics. But in April, amid …read more