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OU on the BBC: Nobody's Normal - Programme 1: Baby love

Programme one in the BBC/OU's Nobody's Normal series explores parenting.

05 Dec
2006
BBC A parent holds a newborn's hand

Tim and Linda Drummond’s baby, Isobel, was born with Congenital Central Hypoventilation syndrome, and spent the first year of her life in hospital.

The programme joins the family as Isobel leaves hospital for the first time and arrives to join her two sisters at the family home.

Matthew and Catherine, in Darlington are young…and coping brilliantly with the challenges of having a baby with spina bifida.

They knew ahead of her birth that Eve had the condition and decided not to opt for a termination. They speak eloquently and movingly about the choices they made.

Caroline and her husband Robert made a different choice when they were confronted with news that their unborn child had Down syndrome. Caroline speaks with clarity and empathy about the reasons behind her decision to terminate the pregnancy.

In programme three, Love is in the air, we see Elly, a young woman with Down syndrome, preparing for her wedding.

Behind the stories
1,916 children were aborted in 2005 as a consequence of pre-natal assessment. Down syndrome was the most common assessment, accounting for 429 of these cases.

There are currently around 150 registered Portage services, providing educational support for 4,500 pre-school children in the UK.

The government provides an Early Support Family Pack to families of a child born with an impairment, to help them get the best out of services.

First broadcast: Monday 11 Dec 2006 on BBC ONE

Nobody's Normal in more depth:

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• Body text - Copyrighted: The Open University
• Image 'A parent holds a newborn's hand' - Copyrighted: BBC

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