Caroline "Carol" Grace Buck (May 4, 1920 – September 30, 1992) was the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. She was the inspiration for Pearl Buck's memoir, The Child Who Never Grew (1950), one of the first public discussions about raising a child with intellectual disabilities.[1]
Carol was born in China on May 4, 1920. By the age of 4, she was showing signs of delayed development. "The child’s span of attention was very short indeed, far shorter than it should have been at her age," her mother wrote. "Much of her fleet light running had no purpose – it was merely motion. Her eyes, so pure in their blue, were blank when one gazed into their depths. They did not hold or respond."[2] In order to properly care for her disabilities, Carol was enrolled in the Vineland Training School in New Jersey for care.[3]
Carol was later diagnosed with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability. At the time of her birth, PKU was not well understood, as the disorder was only discovered in 1934.[4] Carol's condition had a profound impact on her mother, inspiring Pearl S. Buck to write The Child Who Never Grew, a memoir that was one of the first public discussions about raising a child with intellectual disabilities. The book helped reduce the stigma surrounding intellectual disabilities and brought awareness to the challenges faced by families.
Carol Buck passed away in 1992 from lung cancer at the age of 72. She is interred on the grounds of the Vineland School, near the "Carol Cottage".[5][6]
References
edit- ^ Finger, S; Christ, S (2004), "Pearl S. Buck and Phenylketonuria", Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 13 (1): 44–57, doi:10.1080/09647040490885484, PMID 15370336
- ^ Buck, P (1950), The Child Who Never Grew (2nd ed.), Home Base, New York: Woodbine House, p. 36-37
- ^ Finger, S; Christ, S (2004), "Pearl S. Buck and Phenylketonuria", Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 13 (1): 44–57, doi:10.1080/09647040490885484, PMID 15370336
- ^ Christ, S (2003), "Asbjørn Følling and the Discovery of Phenylketonuria", Journey of the History of the Neurosciences: Basic and Clinical Perspectives, 12 (1): 44–54
- ^ "HIstorical Society Dedicates Carol Buck Gravestone", SNJ Today, vol. 15, no. 10, Cumberland County, NJ, p. 3, April 20, 2022
- ^ Carol Buck at Find a Grave