Born to be Different is a frank, intimate and unsentimental portrait of the pressures and joys of life with a disabled child. For the last five years Ricochet and Channel 4 have been following the lives of 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 first series revealed the bittersweet challenges faced by the families as they raised their children, from the initial shock and guilt of diagnosis, through a minefield of medical problems, operations, and mixed emotions.
Episode one concentrated on the first year in the children’s lives, when the differences between them and their peers first came to light. Subsequent programmes dealt with years two and three, when the contrasts between the six children and their peers became even more marked.
The second series updates the stories of Emily and Shelbie, Nathan and William and Hamish and Zoe. These children are growing up fast - they've got new brothers and sisters, they've started school and are beginning to realise that they are different to other children.
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.
