Huntington's Disease Awareness: Spreading It, Maximizing It and Measuring Success With a Hot Dish

Feeling supported and understood by friends and the general public, and not feeling utterly alone anymore. This is how so many in the Huntington's disease (HD) community would like to feel. Making inroads toward this level of support involves achieving one of those nebulous activism buzzwords: awareness. Whether talking about Huntington's disease or any other cause or human condition, we know awareness is a good thing. We know generally that awareness means a greater number of people becoming aware of something and hopefully understanding it at least on a basic level. But beyond that, the whole idea of awareness can be murky. How exactly is awareness beneficial for those who need it? And how can awareness of Huntington's disease, a progressive, neurodegenerative disease the combines the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ALS, be achieved? The June 1 HBO premiere of The Lion's Mouth Opens, the stunningly powerful and beautiful Huntington's disease documentary by Academy Award-nominated director Lucy Walker, represents a big step forward for HD awareness. There's something about life playing out on screen and the power of film, especially in the hands of a master documentarian like Walker, that uniquely conveys what the HD experience is about. In this case, Walker adeptly drops the viewer off in director/actress Marianna Palka's apartment the night before Palka receives her definitive HD genetic testing results that will tell her if she will eventually d...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news