On Pi Day, No Less

"Those who live in the shadow of death are often those who live most. For Hawking, the early diagnosis of his terminal disease, and witnessing the death from leukaemia of a boy he knew in hospital, ignited a fresh sense of purpose. 'Although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research,' he once said. Embarking on his career in earnest, he declared: 'My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.'"

Ian Sample at The Guardian writes an obit for Stephen Hawking.

"Not Only a Disease, but as a Historical Aberration"

"So, if it's not vaccines, it's Wi-Fi or it's pesticides or it's antidepressants in the water supply. It's some factor in the toxic modern world. But once we realize that autism and autistic people have always been part of the human community, that there were always autistic people there, but they were hidden away, either behind the walls of institutions or behind other diagnostic labels, not getting the help that they need, we understand that autism is a very, very common disability, as Hans Asperger believed.
"It's not some rare form of childhood psychosis caused by parenting, as Leo Kanner believed. Because we have thought of it as the toxic byproduct of our modern world, we haven't thought about making accommodations for, for instance, the many autistic adults that are out there."

William Brangham on the PBS Newshour interviews Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes.

"Their Path to Success Wasn't in Place"

"For example, somebody who lived in a house with lead paint poisoning, somebody like Freddie Gray, who is a case we're all familiar with, he didn't have the ability to follow multistep instructions.
And so, in school, people thought he had behavior differences, when it was really learning differences. And so he was suspended, and then he didn't complete school, and then he was in and out of the correction system.
"And then when somebody like that goes into incarceration, again, lots of complicated instructions, and before you know it, they're in solitary confinement."

Judy Woodruff on the PBS Newshour interviews Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi about disabled prisoners.

Let Me Be Brave in the Attempt

"Within the constraints of her era, gender, and social strata, Mrs. Shriver was deeply ambitious, becoming an international leader more than a half century ago in the movement to wrest mental retardation from the shadows of hushed conversations.
"A younger sister of Rosemary Kennedy, who was developmentally disabled and institutionalized most of her life, Mrs. Shriver dedicated decades to ensuring that other families would not endure the fate of her own, watching a loved one whisked behind closed doors."

Bryan Marquard in The Boston Globe writes an obit for Eunice Kennedy Shriver.