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CBS

March 11, 2010

Story Of Woman's Disability Leads To Oscar Moment

Prudence Mabhena arrives at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in Hollywood, Calif.By Lisa Petrillo

(MIAMI BEACH) Prudence Mabhena was born with a disability that causes her bones and muscles to contort. As a young child, her legs had to be amputated. Adding to the difficulty of living through that was her Zimbabwean family who considered her disability a curse and often referred to her as a helpless ant.

Mabhena's life and struggle is now an Oscar winning documentary which follows how she overcame the years of abuse and neglect by her family and the scholarship that changed her life.

During the 82nd Annual Academy awards Mabhena's story and director Roger Ross Williams and Producer Elinor Burkett received the top honor and while Mabhena's moment was momentarily eclipsed by Burkett's outburst, but it doesn't take away from her powerful life story.

"I lived with my stepmom and my dad but the treatment was not very good," Mabhena told CBS4's Entertainment Reporter Lisa Petrillo. "I had to experience a very hard life. It's considered witchcraft to be born disabled in Zimbabwe. It brings shame upon the family so kids are abandoned and the kids are hidden away- they are horribly abused."

Mabhena, Williams and everyone else who worked on the film were in Miami Beach Thursday for a private screening at the Betsy Hotel on Ocean Drive.

Mabhena's life gets turned around when she receives a scholarship to King George VI – a school for children with disabilities. That's where her vocal talent is discovered and nurtured.

"Thank God I went to school whereby I found people who were so loving and caring," Mabhena said.

Williams said he found Mabhena at the school.

"The school is an oasis. When Prudence arrived, she didn't have any self-confidence and look at her now," Mabhena said. "Disability does not mean inability and to those who are disabled-- they have to believe in themselves – they shouldn't look at their physical appearance and look through themselves and what they have and they have to use it."

The 32-minute documentary will air on HBO May 12th.