Simple Advocacy-Day Twelve

Pay it forward. Whenever you find information on special needs that you believe could benefit others, pass it on. Networking and sharing valuable resources and updates is a great way for people to be kept aware of important, timely developments that may interest them and impact their children.

In the spirit of practicing what I preach, here's information about tonight's airing of the movie The Memory Keeper's Daughter on Lifetime (check local listings), complete with a review by my friend Gail Williamson, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles, and mom to Blair, a talented working actor with Down syndrome.

For more about the book itself, here is the author's website: http://www.memorykeepersdaughter.com.

Be sure to give Lifetime your feedback about the movie, but first, consider sharing Gail's thoughts and the author's link!

Thanks, Gail!
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"I enjoyed The Memory Keeper’s Daughter a Lifetime network original film to air on April 12th. Of course you don’t get time to watch the characters develop like you do when you read the book chapter to chapter, but the screenplay does a good job of representing the original story. The film, in my mind, would be rated PG13; there is reference to unfaithful married partners, not blatant and visual, but obvious; so it might not be a family film for your family. I suggest you watch it first and then decide.

Something very important to me is the casting of talent with Down syndrome and the portrayal of those characters. They were “spot on” in the film. The actors with DS did a wonderful job, I was so proud of them all and the casting directors who found them. The filmmakers did a wonderful job of showing the abilities and not focusing on the limitations of individuals with DS. It was a joy to hear all of the actors with DS speak clearly and see them truly act, playing someone other than themselves.

Have a box of tissues ready; you will need them.

On a scale of 1 to 3 chromosomes, I give it a 3."

Gail Williamson
Executive Director / Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles, Inc.
315 Arden Avenue, Suite 25
Glendale, CA 91304
818-242-7871 voice / 818-242-7819 fax
gail@dsala.org / www.dsala.org
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JudyWinter.com
Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs: Raising the Bar of Expectations
MySpace.com/judy_winter