Writing on the AOLnews website, supermodel and lifestyle guru Kathy Ireland says funding for research into Down syndrome has been consistently reduced until it now accounts for less than 0.01 percent of the National Institutes of Health’s annual research budget. This must change, says Ireland. Her niece Polly has Down syndrome.

We are on the verge of medical breakthroughs with Down syndrome, and we can’t let it fall from our doctors’ hands.

… We are in a race to help those with DS. We must run side by side with them, assuring them that the Down syndrome funding cuts, which the National Institutes of Health has faced, are reversed now.

In this week’s episode of Fox’s ‘Glee’, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch)  instructs her Cheerios squad on the preferred method for losing weight: Bulimia. Here’s the dialogue from her scene with Cheerio Becky Jackson (played by actress Lauren Potter, who has Down syndrome).

Becky (standing on a scale): I lost two pounds, coach.

Sue: Well, Becky, you are assimilating beautifully. Instead of being different and an outcast, you’re just like every other teenage girl in America: sadly obsessed with vanity. Hey, before you know it, you’ll be leaving little baggies of upchuck in your parents’ linen closet.  Congrats. I’m proud of you, kid.

Becky: Thanks, coach.

From Fox News’ Entertainment blog, CNN:

In the wake of news that she is splitting up with actor Jim Carrey, actress and autism activist Jenny McCarthy is closing her school, Teach2Talk Academy, reports Fox News.

Earlier this week, Carrey announced his split with McCarthy via a Twitter post signed with an emoticon.

“Jenny and I have just ended our 5yr relationship. I’m grateful 4 the many blessings we’ve shared and I wish her the very best! S’okay! ?;^>”

The celebrity duo had provided glamor to the autism cause as they promoted controversial anti-vaccine messages, offered hope of autism cures, and marketed McCarthy’s books on the subject. McCarthy, a one-time Playboy playmate, is the mother of a son who has been diagnosed with autism.

Earlier posts here.

In an interview with the New York Post’s Page Six Magazine, comedian Sarah Silverman talks about her life, her program on Comedy Central, and her comic view of disability. An excerpt:

In one new episode, Sarah realizes she’s “retarded,” a plotline that, like most others on the show, will surely incense her critics. With regard to riling people up, Sarah shrugs. “I love retarded people,” she says. “A lot of the time, networks resist dealing with retardation at all in television, and I think it’s so much more insulting to not have them be a part of the world we’re reflecting than to risk offending not them, but advocates of them. They [people who are mentally challenged] are not offended.”

Earlier posts here.

Michael Arrington, writing in TechCrunch.com via the Washington Post, reports that comedian Sarah Silverman has agreed to donate her time to a Los Angeles-area fundraiser to benefit people with Down syndrome.

Proceeds from the March 6 benefit in Culver City, called TwentyWonder, will go to the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles.

Silverman stirred controversy last week when she appeared before an international audience at the exclusive TED conference and cracked jokes referencing the current debate about the use of the word “retard.” Here’s how CNN described her routine:

In front of an audience of Nobel laureates, mathematicians, artists, scientists and inventors, Silverman did not hold back on her edgy brand of comedy.

After talking about the merits of adoption and the problem of overpopulation, Silverman joked on stage that she wants to adopt a “retarded” child with a terminal disease.

[Note: A writer on Salon.com said the term Silverman used was "terminally ill retard."]

That would earn her sympathy points, she said. But, because the child would die soon, she said she wouldn’t have to be stuck with the burden for too long.

In a video on the CNN site, Silverman explains her approach to comedy and says there is one category of humor that strikes her as offensive and unfair.

“I don’t really care for like fat jokes about women, specifically,” she said.

“Because I feel that we live in a society where fat men deserve love, and fat women do not deserve love — at least in white America. And so I feel like that’s an ugly thing, and it doesn’t make me laugh.”

In response to questions about Silverman’s upcoming appearance at TwentyWonder, DSALA board president Gina Vivona sent out the attached response. An excerpt:

It is DSALA’s position that we will treat people like we wish to be treated; with acceptance, respect, and understanding. Within those guiding principles, our goal is to extend the reach of our community by building relationships, providing education and increased awareness whenever possible.

There are many ways to be heard. One is to show people who don’t understand just how amazing our community members with Down syndrome are.

(Image from CNN video)

From the Huffington Post:

Bill Maher offers the following joke in the promo for the upcoming debut of his eighth season of HBO’s “Real Time.”

While we were off, Sarah Palin agreed to do commentary at Fox News, which is actually very similar to her day job: talking to a baby with Down syndrome. (The studio audience groans, then applauds).

The site carries the video, and the joke appears at about the 1:22 mark.

Related posts here.

From Michael Arrington at Techcrunch.com via the Washington Post. Also, MediaPost.com, HuffingtonPost.com:

Appearing at the exclusive TED conference in California last week, comedian Sarah Silverman performed a routine that made liberal use of the word “retarded,” web sources are saying.

The gist of her remarks: She said she’d like to adopt a “special needs child” so that people would think she was an “awesome person,” but she’s concerned that a “retarded child” would never leave the nest. So she’s decided that she would adopt a “retarded child with a terminal illness so it has an expiration date.”

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference draws heavy hitters from around the globe, and is devoted to what it calls “ideas worth spreading.” In addition to Silverman, speakers this year included Bill Gates and James Cameron. Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Gordon Brown have appeared in past years.

Silverman’s routine drew criticism from conference organizer Chris Anderson, who twittered that he thought it was “god-awful.” Anderson later “admitted he was out of line,” reports Mediapost.com.

Arrington writes that Silverman, who has built a career challenging taboos, was…

“following suit behind Megan McCain and Stephen Colbert in making fun of Sarah Palin. She didn’t say this, but I knew this. Why did I know this? Because this is a trend with comedians right now and I know why they are doing it. They are doing it for a cause. They don’t want that word turned into the “R word”. Saying the word “retarded” can only have extreme negative power if you let it and Sarah Silverman is brave, because she got on stage in front of some global minds and dropped it over and over and over.”

Silverman was among celebrities featured last year in MTV’s “How’s Your News?” a comedy/reality show in which reporters with disabilities traveled the country in search of news.

(Photo from www.ted.com)