Work Life Meets Family Life

After working with NARC for five years, I got married to a man named Austin Willins. I met Austin while in Washington D.C. He attended Georgetown University, and he did a bit of volunteer work for NARC. We dated for almost six years before being married. As Austin’s brother had an intellectual disability, we bonded over my passion for helping gain equality for people with disabilities.

In 1962, Austin and I made the mutual decision that we were ready to have a child. I became pregnant and gave birth to a girl named Elizabeth. When Elizabeth was almost one year old, we found out she had developed an intellectual disability that resulted from hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition where the body does not produce enough thyroid hormone, which is necessary for brain development. At the time, the technology of screening tests, which test newborns for developmental disabilities were not available. As a result, Elizabeth’s hypothyroidism went unnoticed long enough for the disability to become significant. After my daughter was diagnosed, I, once again, dove headfirst into my work at NARC. I vowed to help the nonprofit continue to perform research on intellectual disabilities in order to not only help my own daughter but also to engage and inform the public on the matter.

In the 1970s, NARC altered its name to National Association for Retarded Citizens (still NARC) and was successful in funding doctors and experiments to find treatments for various diseases with the potential to cause brain damage. We also published a revolutionary study that linked infant under-nutrition to developmental disabilities. With this new proof that displayed a relationship between poverty and disability, we were able to advocate for better help for the poor to avoid and help in such cases.

At the same time that we were achieving so much on the NARC front, Austin and I worked with my daughter at home to help avoid the worsening of her intellectual disability. Elizabeth began going through difficult treatments to help with her illness. Elizabeth was becoming self-sufficient and was finally able to live her normal teenage life.