From The Hill:

California First Lady Maria Shriver is advocating for Alzheimer’s education and research this week in Washington, and also promoting the HBO film series she produced, “The Alzheimer’s Project.”

She spoke at a breakfast meeting of having to reintroduce herself to her father, R. Sargent Shriver, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2003. He no longer recognizes his daughter.

Sargent Shriver was a special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, and served as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee in 1972.

“I don’t mind having to reintroduce myself – at least I still have my dad,” Maria Shriver said at the breakfast.

… “The emotional, spiritual and financial cost of this disease is mind boggling to the nation.”

See also:

• Alzheimer’s costs triple that of other elderly — AP/Washington Post
• Why I got my DNA tested for Alzheimer’s — Terry Moran, ABC News
• 10 things you should know about Alzheimer’s — US News & World Report
• Alzheimer’s cases growing; Problem worsens as population ages — Chicago Sun-Times

From BBC, UK Times, People Magazine, Hindustan Times:

The story of an Indian girl whose cleft lip was repaired through surgery has won the Academy Award for best short documentary.

Directed by Megan Mylan, the film follows Pinki’s transformation from an introverted social outcast to an outgoing local celebrity after an operation funded by The Smile Train, an international charity organization that provides free surgery to children with cleft lips and palates.

Pinki, who attended the awards ceremony with her father and her surgeon, told People magazine that she had been shunned by children and townspeople in her rural village in India. Pinki’s birth had been a humiliation on her family, and villagers said her cleft lip was evidence of a curse.

Her father, Rajendra Sonkar, said he used to think it would have been better if his daughter had not been born. Now he hopes Pinki will grow up to be a flight attendant.

(Pinki with surgeon Subodh Kumar Singh, her father, and director Megan Mylan, AP photo from UK Times)

The documentary film, about a couple’s efforts to cure their son of autism with the help of Mongolian shamans, is screening at the Sundance film festival.

From Variety:

[The film] has the nerve to be spiritual without entering the minefield of faith, and through careful handling, could resonate strongly with underserved [audiences] … What we’re left with isn’t whether or not shamanism cures autism but a more allegorical example of what happens when people seek solutions beyond the boundaries of Western thought.

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

“Over the Hills and Far Away” is a heartbreaking and uplifting documentary … Director Michel Orion Scott explores the contradictory scientific expertise on autism. But the most moving scenes come as Scott follows the family on their quest, chronicling a family coming together in crisis in a story too strange and miraculous to be fiction.

Earlier post here.

From Marketwire/MSNBC:

YouTube and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting announce that “Abilities,” a short film made by Arturo Perez, Jr. about a community of people with disabilities, has won the online video journalism competition, Project: Report.

The program attracted hundreds of journalists from around the world for a competition that called for short, high quality videos focused on stories that are not typically covered by the traditional media.

Perez’s winning video explores the lives of the residents of Camphill, a community near Santa Cruz, California. At Camphill, adults with developmental disabilities live, learn and work together with professional caregivers and volunteers.

Perez will receive a $10,000 grant and the opportunity to report on an issue of global importance.

View the video here.

(Video still from “Abilities.”)

From the [UK] Times:

The parents of a young UK rugby star who took their son to a suicide clinic in Switzerland will not face charges.

Authorities said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Mark and Julie James under the Suicide Act of 1961, but that a prosecution would not be in the public interest.

Daniel James, their son, had been left paralyzed from the chest down after his spine was dislocated in a training session in 2007. He had repeatedly said that he wanted to die rather than live a “second-class existence.”

Meanwhile, a British TV channel was scheduled to air a controversial documentary in which a man with a terminal illness is shown committing assisted suicide in a Swiss clinic.

Related stories:

TV channel to broadcast assisted suicide — CNN

Mary Ewert: Why I want the world to see my husband die — [UK] Independent

Why Daniel James’ death in a Swiss clinic is not a case for the prosecution — [UK] Times

Wife defends suicide documentary — BBC

Earlier posts here.

Richard Sandomir, writing in the New York Times, says NBC’s upcoming documentary about the Paralympics made him cry. An excerpt:

It is a 90-minute, continuous “Oh my” journey with amputee sprinters and swimmers, wheelchair basketball players and racers, a paralyzed shot-putter, a sailor with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Marin Morrison, a swimmer devastated by a brain tumor.

… We have been conditioned since ABC’s Olympic productions in the 1960s to hearing the stories of athletes’ struggles, those inspiring personal profiles. Not to denigrate the best of them, but Paralympians really have life stories to stir the soul.

NBC producer David Michaels says a small budget and logistical problems prevented NBC from running the documentary and the 28-hour schedule of events any earlier. The Paralympics ended almost two months ago.

From the New York Times:

Internationally acclaimed fiber artist Judith Scott had Down syndrome and spent most of her life in an institution. (An example of her work is at left.)

A documentary about Scott’s life is among the films that will be featured in “Realabilities,” a New York film festival dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of diverse human experiences. The festival is presented by the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan.

“We want to enlighten people that they don’t have to be afraid when somebody who’s got cerebral palsy walks into their building or comes in with a wheelchair,” said an organizer.

(New York Times photo)