Santorum Had Bond With Special-Needs Families

April 11, 2012, 4:05 PM ET


Santorum Had Bond With Special-Needs Families

One group of voters faces a special kind of void now that Rick Santorum has dropped out of the presidential race.

Panozzo family

Michele Panozzo meeting Rick Santorum at an Illinois campaign event last month.

Special-needs kids and adults, and their families, had shown up regularly at Mr. Santorum’s campaign appearances. Wheelchairs were often in the crowd at his events; a little boy in an epilepsy helmet turned up at an appearance in rural Florida; an amputee cheered on Mr. Santorum in the Chicago suburbs.

Mr. Santorum often drew people with Down syndrome and their families, encouraged by his stories about his own daughter, Isabella, who has a condition known as Trisomy 18.

“Unless you’ve lived it and you’ve come out on the other side, no one else can ever know – no legislator getting up there and talking about it can know,” said Janet Bedin, whose cousin, Michele Panozzo, has Down syndrome. “There is no one else – they can talk it intellectually, but it’s not coming from their heart and soul.”

Ms. Bedin and Ms. Panozzo heard Mr. Santorum speak at a few events in Illinois last month. “He gave Michele a big hug,” Ms. Bedin said, and directing his remarks at Ms. Panozzo’s father, said “they’re a gift.”

“He meant they’re a gift – giving you humanity,” said Ms. Bedin.

Ms. Panozzo, 31 years old, “had the biggest and proudest smile when Rick Santorum came up and gave her a hug,” Ms. Bedin said. “He was so comfortable reaching out specifically to her, making her feel special and important to him.”

“Usually people look through her – but not Rick,” Ms. Bedin added. “He saw her as if she was his daughter.”
 
 
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/04/11/santorum-had-bond-with-special-needs-families/?blog_id=24&post_id=34253