Special needs story lines are becoming more common in television shows and in books. This summer, I stumbled upon two grand examples, both of which provided a glimpse of how society’s attitudes toward special needs have changed in the last 100 years.

Special Needs on Call the Midwife

The BBC series Call the Midwife is set in the impoverished East Side of London during the 1950s. (It’s considered a “historical period drama,” which makes me uncomfortable having been born in 1956.) The second season aired in the United States this spring. In Season 2, Episode 4, a midwife delivered a baby with spina bifida. The episode is worth watching for several reasons. First, it dealt realistically with the new mother’s depression after hearing her baby’s diagnosis. Second, it illustrates how the parents grappled with the common thinking of the time, which was to institutionalize children with special needs. Third, it gives a look at how far medical treatment of kids with special needs has come. So far, only Season 1 of Call the Midwives is available on DVD. It’s also available on Netflix, and I highly recommend it.

Special Needs in Jewel by Brett Lott

My second special needs find was the book Jewel written by Brett Lott in the 1990s. The book begins with the birth of Jewel’s 6th child, Brenda Kay, in the 1940s. Brenda Kay is diagnosed with Down syndrome a few months after her birth. The story, told from Jewel’s viewpoint, chronicles her advocacy on behalf of her daughter over several decades. The reader experiences the changes made on behalf of children with special needs during those decades. The book is beautifully written and grapples with spiritual issues along with practical ones. I finished the book, profoundly grateful for parents who blazed the special needs trail and made life much better for our kids with special needs.

Your Special Needs Novel, TV, and Movie Recommendations?

Now, those are my special needs recs. But how about you? What novels, TV shows, or movies have you run across lately that dealt with special needs? Leave your recs in the comment box.

Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the quarterly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop-up box and the second at the bottom of this page.

Photo Source