Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. But few knew of the difficulties the kindly, erudite doctor and scientist faced in his own life.Those struggles included Homophobia, which was easy for him to internalize given that his mother called him an “abomination” when she found out he was gay.
A seriously ill sibling. Amphetamine addiction. Lack of respect from fellow scientists. And a fear that he’d never know romantic love, only to find it in the last few years of his life.All this and more are revealed in a new documentary film from director Ric Burns, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, opening in virtual theaters today.“Nothing in his writing would tell you that being Oliver was a very tough row to hoe,” Burns tells The Advocate..