First transmitted in June 2003

Three years in the making, Born to be Different is a frank, intimate and unsentimental portrait of the pressures and joys of life with a disabled child. It follows six families and their children who have been born with very different types of disability through all the major milestones of their young lives.

The series reveals the bittersweet challenges faced by the families as they raise their children, from the initial shock and guilt of diagnosis, through a minefield of medical problems, operations, and mixed emotions.

Episode one concentrates on the first year in the children’s lives, when the differences between them and their peers first come to light. Subsequent programmes deal with years two and three, when the contrasts between the six children and their peers will become even more marked.

The series charts the day-to-day practicalities of coping with disability within the family. Some struggle to cope with the strain, while others get stronger, thanks to the dark humour they employ as a coping mechanism.

Help, information and support can be found at the following links:

Recorded information line
Support for parents or family members, caring for or expecting a child with a serious health condition can be found in our online guide.

Good Birth Guide
Provides information about antenatal tests and scans.

Down's syndrome
Facts, advice and support about this most common form of learning disability.

The big folic acid debate
Should folic acid be added to the nation's flour in order to reduce the risk of spina bifida?

Understanding learning disabilitity
Help and advice about learning disabilites and information about the 2000 White paper on valuing people.

Good Birth Guide - support
Organisations, books, helplines and websites covering a wide range of pregnancy and birth issues.

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