BOSTON — Susan Senator discovered the Special Olympics when her autistic son was 10 and experiencing a particularly difficult phase. Watching her son with his teammates made her realize that the greatest gift Eunice Shriver Kennedy gave to families like hers was the chance to experience the mundane.

BOSTON — After President Obama’s Special Olympics faux pas, the mother of an autistic boy found herself thinking about what the competition’s all about. The thing about Special Olympics, she realized, is you get to be like everyone else.