It’s time for Jerry Lewis to get an Oscar – By Christian Toto in Human Events

An excerpt:

It must crush Lewis to be on the receiving end of … protests, particularly from those who are disabled. Their efforts would be better spent meeting with Lewis directly or reaching out to the media to applaud his fundraising work while expounding upon his occasionally tactless retorts.

Lewis’ comments could be teachable moments to show how words can hurt, even when it comes from those with big hearts. Wouldn’t that be the proactive, positive approach to the situation?

Jerry Lewis doesn’t deserve an academy award – By Mike Ervin in the Progressive

An excerpt:

[Jerry Lewis] and his telethon symbolize an antiquated and destructive 1950s charity mentality.

This says that people with disabilities have no hope and nothing to offer unless we are cured, so the whole focus should be raising money for behemoth charities that can find that cure.

This is a dangerously simplistic outlook. It devalues and dehumanizes people with disabilities by suggesting we can be worthy contributors only if we first shed our disabilities.

It gives people permission to avoid addressing the daunting task of creating an inclusive society if they simply make an annual contribution to Jerry.

Writing in the New York Times’ annual ‘Lives They Lived’ issue, philosopher Peter Singer memorializes the life of disability rights advocate Harriet McBryde Johnson.

Johnson was perhaps best known for her 2003 New York Times Magazine cover story Unspeakable conversations. The first-person piece described her journey to Princeton University to debate Singer over his advocacy for the legalization of selective infanticide of children with disabilities. The cover of the magazine carried a photo of Johnson in her power wheelchair (left) with the headline “Should I have been killed at birth?”

Singer recalls Johnson’s visit to Princeton, and alludes to the impact she has had on his thinking. An excerpt:

My students talked about Johnson’s visit for a long time, and our conversations stayed with me, too. Her life was evidently a good one, and not just for herself, because her legal work and political activism on behalf of the disabled was valuable to others as well. I know that surveys have found that people living with disabilities show a level of satisfaction with their lives that is not very different from that of people who are not disabled. Have people with long-term disabilities adjusted their expectations downward, so that they are satisfied with less? Or do even severe disabilities really make no difference to our happiness, once we get used to them?

… According to her sister, Beth, what most concerned Harriet about dying was “the crap people would say about her.” And sure enough, among the tributes to her were several comments about how she can now run and skip through the meadows of heaven. Doubly insulting, first because Johnson did not believe in a life after death, and second, why assume that heavenly bliss requires you to be able to run and skip?

Singer’s piece carries the headline: ‘Happy nevertheless: An ongoing conversation about a disabled life.’

(Photo from New York Times)

Earlier posts:

• Harriet McBryde Johnson: ‘A life worth living’
• Harriet McBryde Johnson: An appreciation
• Harriet McBryde Johnson, 50: Attorney, disability rights advocate

By Shawn Levy in the [Portland] Oregonian:

Gay rights advocates are reportedly complaining to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about plans to give a humanitarian award to Jerry Lewis (left).

The comedian, who hosts an annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Society of America, has used anti-gay slurs in public at least twice in the past two years, once on his telethon and once on Australian radio. An excerpt:

… the Hersholt award isn’t for the head but the heart. In the vast, karmic scheme of things, this man has done far more good than bad. Trust me.

Earlier post here.

(Photo from [Portland] Oregonian.)

From Reuters/Washington Post/Hollywood Reporter, BBC, UPI:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors has voted to honor Jerry Lewis with a special Academy Award. The comedian and filmmaker will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award during the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony on February 22. He has never been nominated for a conventional Oscar.

Lewis has hosted an annual Labor Day telethon on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association since 1966, and is credited with raising more than $2 billion on behalf of the organization.

In a prepared statement, Academy president Sid Ganis said, “Jerry is a legendary comedian who has not only brought laughter to millions around the world but has also helped thousands upon thousands by raising funds and awareness for those suffering from muscular dystrophy.”

The Academy’s portrayal of Lewis as a humanitarian is strongly at odds with the views of a vocal group of disability rights advocates who have waged persistent protests against the telethon for years. They say Lewis’ portrayal of his “kids” as helpless and pitiable undermines all people with disabilities, denying them public respect.

(more…)

From ABC News/Good Morning America:

The city of Rockville, Maryland, has dedicated a public park to the memory of Mattie J.T. Stepanek, a boy with muscular dystrophy who appealed for peace on national television in the weeks following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. An excerpt:

“We all have life storms and when we get the rough times and we recover from them we should celebrate that we got through it,” Mattie told “Good Morning America” in 2001. “No matter how bad it may seem there’s always something beautiful that you can find.”

It was a message based on Mattie’s struggles. He had a rare form of muscular dystrophy that tied him to machines and his wheelchair, but his spirit was indomitable as he insisted we learn to play after every storm. His words made him a best-selling poet and national spokesman for peace.

Mattie Stepanek died in June 2004 at the age of 13.

With video. Photo from ABC website.

Blind aide raises bar of expectations – The Hill (blindness)

Disabled parking placard use is on the rise – LA Daily News (law)

Report: Disabled voters face difficulty in RI - Boston Globe (voting)

Op-ed: Those with developmental disabilities need help now - Denver Post (law, politics, intellectual disabilities)

Film of Norfolk man’s life added to Library of Congress - The [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot (Down syndrome)

Aging parents plan for future of children who still need help - Ottawa Citizen (caretakers)

Extreme Makeover: Emotional buildup – New York Times (disabilities, media, chronic illness, entertainment, television)

He’s immobile, but his story has the power to move - Today Show (muscular dystrophy, media, parents, personal stories)

Op-ed: New ADA rules overturn common sense — Miami Herald (ADA)

Disabled band scores film first - BBC News (entertainment)

Man accused of harassing autistic boy faces hate-crime charge - The Seattle Times (autism, hate crime)

Book review: ‘Deaf Sentence’ — New York Times (deafness)

Redskins ordered to provide hearing-impaired fans ‘aural content’ in stadium - ESPN (deaf/hard of hearing, law)

Redskins ordered to continue captions — Washington Post (deaf/hard of hearing, law)

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Henry deYoung, 23, was named Carnegie Mellon’s top undergraduate computer science student last spring, and is now enrolled in the school’s Ph.D. program. His younger brother Andrew, 21, also a student at Carnegie Mellon, is just as brilliant. They both have spinal muscular atrophy, a muscle-weakening disorder.

Technically, they’ve already outlived their expected lifespan, but they don’t dwell on it. They’re not expecting a cure. An excerpt:

“I think one’s circumstances affect one’s life, and I think it’s helpful if I and others remember that, and know that really, circumstances are just circumstances, not necessarily bad,” Andrew DeYoung wrote in an e-mail.

“In other words, we all need to remember that every person has value, not because of what we do, but just because we are. And it doesn’t matter whether one is president of the United States or is one of the dozens of sick children waiting right now at Children’s Hospital for a transplant — I think that if we all remembered that we all have value, life would be a bit more pleasant, and less goal-oriented.”