Music Within

Advocate for the disabled Richard Pimentel talks about his difficult childhood referring to "when my mother went crazy." (0:01)

Richard says, "My mother had this ritual. Every year she'd celebrate the birthday of each of the children she miscarried by buying them a birthday card and taking an overdose of sleeping pills... I wouldn't call her successful at suicide..." (0:05)

Richard views the corpse of his father at the funeral. (0:05)

Richard comes home to find his mother unconscious after another ritual overdose. (0:08)

Vets share a joint using a prosthesis as a roach clip. (0:24)

Vets share a joint (0:43)

Speech professor Dr. Padrow confides to Richard that he suffers from "manic depressive" illness and shows him his all of lithium. (0:59)

Richard visits his mentally ill mother in a psychiatric hospital. She tells him, "The doctors tell me I'm doing well, but I don't feel like it, and neither do I." He responds, "Schizophrenia humor. That's good, Mom." (1:11)

Richard talks about the Americans with Disabilities Act on a radio program. (1:13)

Richard, despondent, has turned on the gas in his apartment and fumbles with a lighter. He tells his girlfriend Christine that his mother finally died. (1:20)

Americans with Disabilities Act | Bereavement | disability | hypnotic | joint | lithium | overdose | suicide