Tuesday Supervisors to honor “Soloist” Nathaniel Ayers who was played by Jamie Foxx in the biopic #music #laphil
This film, the “Soloist” was as touching as it was frustrating in that so many homeless are diagnosed with mental disorders that could be easily corrected if the government was able to administer medication to them long enough for them to perhaps see a video of themselves in their disordered states, so that they would sign off on receiving medication willingly. What a catch-22. Imagine all the talented people who with some intervention could find the Ayers playing within them all. Or fathom any average person with a disorder for that matter who doesn’t know that they’re being held back finally being set free with the intervention of family or friends before they have to become homeless to get the government’s attention. This is the only time I can think of government health care’s intervention making sense for anyone. Mental disorders be gone! The film was a triumph that I hope stirs healthy debate on this subject. – Carlo.
Nathaniel Ayers, the mentally ill homeless musician whose story was told in the book and movie “The Soloist,” will be honored by the Board of Supervisors at their meeting on Tuesday.
Supervisors will present Ayers, 59, with a scroll in recognition of his upcoming trip to represent Los Angeles County and people with mental illness at a White House celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The celebration marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark legislation that ensures equality for disabled Americans.
Ayers was a talented double-bassist living on Skid Row with schizophrenia when Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez befriended him. The friendship became the basis for the movie starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.
When he goes to Washington for the July 28 celebration, Ayers will carry a second scroll from the Board of Supervisors for President Obama, which commends him for, among other things, his commitment to the mental health community.
Ayers will travel to Washington with his sister, Jennifer Ayers-Moore, who founded the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation, which raises money for arts programs serving the mentally ill.
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