On behalf of the National Governors Association, Governor Howard Dean testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on 6/20/02. He stated, "Nursing home care is an entitlement under the Medicaid Program while people who would prefer to be on the Home and Community Based Waiver program must wait, often for a long period of time, on waiting lists. There is something very wrong with this picture. This calls for a complete paradigm shift. We need to treat nursing homes and other institutional care as the last option, after all other options have been tried and failed. Experience has shown that we can serve many more people with the same funding, and serve them in the setting they prefer, when we are able to keep them at home and avoid institutional costs. Perhaps more importantly, we can provide a higher quality of life . . . Consumers are demanding more alternatives and rejecting institutional care. All we have to do is listen to them and follow their lead. If we do, we will have a better system of care and one, which provides for more people for the same dollars …"

Well, summer 2002 is officially under way, which means the start of the blockbuster movie season when millions of Americans plunk down their hard earned dollars to sit in a darkened movie theater and watch someone else’s vision of life, which, by the way, usually doesn’t include sitting in a darkened movie theater. But to commemorate this wonderful season, we proudly present our first (and probably last) annual DITVAM (Disabilities in TV and Movies) awards or, as we like to call them, the Dittys.

Best portrayal of a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder: Jack Nicholson, As Good as it Gets (1997). Pure genius without once stepping on the cracks.

Best portrayal of a person with autism: Leonardo DiCaprio, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). What? You were thinking Dustin Hoffman???

Most improbable story involving a person with a disability: Charly (1968) with Cliff Robertson taking a drug that turns him into a genius. Alas, the drug wears off and he turns back into a pumpkin (oops, wrong story.)

Grittiest portrayal of a person with a cognitive disability: Billy Bob Thornton, Sling Blade (1996). Featuring John Ritter in the best performance of his career.

Worst title of a movie that includes people with disabilities: The Idiots (1998). A film from Denmark about a group of ordinary citizens who decide to become people with learning disabilities in reaction to the ills of society. Don’t ask.

Most inspirational movie involving an individual with a disability who teams up with a fellow outcast to achieve personal glory and/or salvation and/or redemption: Tie between The Mighty (1997) with Jillian Anderson (sigh) and Simon Birch (1998) with Ashley Judd (double sigh). If I didn’t see them side-by-side in Blockbuster, I’d swear they were the same movie.

First movie to portray a person with a disability: The Fake Beggar, (1898) a 50 second film by none other than Thomas Edison in which a man pretends to be blind in order to beg for money on the street. The jig is up when a policeman spots him bending over to pick up a coin. Policeman gives chase. End of movie.

Most embarrassing moment in a movie involving a person with a disability: When Giovanni Rabisi appears dressed as a giant dog in The Other Sister, (1999).

Most insulting and degrading performance of a person with a disability: Nathan Lane, The Boys Next Door, (1996). Looking like a deranged Jackie Gleason, Lane prances around promoting every negative stereotype about people with cognitive disabilities. Amazingly, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement for this disgusting performance.

Congratulations to all our winners.

From Mark Bernstein’s News and Views, also comes a recommendation of a made-for-TV movie that debuted on the TNT network this July, and will probably be rebroadcast. It’s called "Door-to-Door" and stars William Macy as a salesman with cerebral palsy who fashions a successful career for himself despite some rather daunting obstacles. Mark says the movie is wonderfully understated in its handling of the subject matter and allows us to clearly see the man rather than the disability. Keep a lookout for it.

Fun on the Web – Two nifty websites for games: www.funbrain.com  and www.factmonster.com

The Supreme Court recently declared that murderers with mental retardation can’t be executed for their crimes because the death penalty would be "unconstitutionally cruel." Justice John Paul Sevens wrote, "Because of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their impulses, however, they do not act with the level of moral culpability that characterizes the most serious adult criminal conduct." Offenders with mental retardation would still be tried and punished when convicted of their crimes, however.