- Can you eat two sausages, Mark? - Yes.
- And you, Carl? Two for you? - Yes.
Give your plates to Daddy.
That'll do, Mark.
This is Brett's family.
He said, the other day...
He was pretending to be his father. He said:
"I'm Peter Nielsen, and I've got three sons."
And I said: "Oh yes? What are their names?"
He said: "One is Mark, and he teases.
"One is Carl, and he cries.
"And one is Brett, and he's got no arms."
Brett was born in Australia four and a half years ago.
Now, he lives in London. His father is an engineer.
He and his brothers are healthy.
And so are his parents.
There's no history of illness or handicap in the family.
Brett was born without arms
because, when his mom was pregnant,
she was given tranquilizing pills
containing Thalidomide.
She was one of 10,000 mothers
all over the world who had the same experience.
At his birth, his parents were deeply shocked.
They faced a choice: either to feel sorry for him,
and for themselves,
or to cope, and to help him cope.
We felt that,
rather than treat Brett gently,
we should make every effort
to treat him as near as possible
as a normal child.
Protect him from the obvious dangers.
But he must not be protected
anymore than was absolutely necessary.
Because he was going to grow up
in a normal world
where people will say hurtful things
where, whilst he may be
an adorable little thing whilst he's a baby,
he won't be very adorable when he's 15, 18, or 25.
So he must compete with others.
We did feel sorry for him when he was young,
but as he grew older and was quite happy,
there was no need to feel sorry.
Why should one feel sorry for a happy person?
Don't touch me!
Don't!
He sees the world
not quite through rose-coloured glasses,
but he thinks people
are mostly very kind,
very good people.
He's inclined to speak and smile at almost anyone.
People are very sympathetic towards him,
because he's a pleasant little boy of four
who, unfortunately, has no arms.
He thinks most people in the world are kind, isn't that great?
Brett is quite bright for his age, but when he was born,
many people, including the doctor,
somehow expected
that, because he had no arms,
he would be mentally handicapped as well.
In fact, it had the opposite effect.
These children seem to be using their full potential.
Now, I believe that most of us coast along
using about 60, 70 % of our potential.
But,
these Thalidomide children, right since the birth,
have had to try much harder than the normal person
at everything that they do.
It's become a way of life with them,
and I think they'll continue to do that.
And even those who have, say,
below average intelligence,
will probably do better in many ways
than physically normal children
who have the same IQ.
It's what they do with their intelligence that matters.
Wipe the floor.
However, there are many things Brett can't do for himself.
I think, too, there's
a certain amount of resentment
at the amount of time and effort
one has to give him.
I felt very guilty about it.
I used to get so annoyed when he'd ask me to,
not ask, demand,
that I should do this and do that.
When he would scream so much that,
because the child was so handicapped,
it seemed even worse to me to feel resentful.
She realized her resentment was normal
as there were two other children,
and so, stopped giving in to him.
But she also saw that Brett was not just crying for help.
He was crying for more independence.
The Nielsens, like many other parents,
had already had a frustrating series of hospital visits.
Thalidomide problems were new and so complex,
that most doctors were caught unprepared.
- Hello, how are you? - Very well, thanks.
But today promised to be different.
This hospital had offered not just advice and sympathy,
but an arm.
Artificial arms and hooks are already worn by thousands,
like war veterans.
Most Thalidomide children can't wear them.
Their shoulders are too weak to make them move.
They need arms that power themselves.
Scientists worked frantically to give them
a special arm.
Its power comes from a cylinder of compressed gas on the child's back.
It's controlled by switches under the chin.
First produced in Germany,
it was introduced to Britain by Lady Hoare,
for further development in this country.
I think this is as good as any at the moment.
The Heidelberg Arm.
With this,
and the training of a child, at the present time,
we can already obtain three types of movement.
One is the rotation of the wrist,
which the child can produce
by pressing this switch.
The second one is the flex of the elbow,
which again, the child can produce at will.
And finally,
there's the grip, like a forceps.
The combination of these imitates the movement of a normal arm.
Put your head right back, Brett.
You press it on one side, it comes up.
It goes down with the other side.
Now, press it with your chin for a minute.
Yes, lovely.
The movements are simple,
but the apparatus is complex,
especially for a child to live with.
It'll take 12 days just to fit the jacket properly.
and, as he grows,
Brett must return for a new arm every six months.
Not that way.
There.
Right.
Are we done now?
You want to spin around on the chair first?
Better ask first.
You've been a good lad. Give it a good swing.
I don't like it, want off.
- Alright? - Yeah.
Working?
It's stiff.
Try the elbow.
That's a shot.
Come over here.
Try the other,
other switches and see if they work, too.
That's right.
Good.
It'll work if you try hard enough. You keep trying.
Come on, try with this one.
Close it.
That's it.
See, you can.
Now, you can repair your bike.
That's the boy.
Like a baby,
Brett must start from square one,
and learn what his arm can do and what it cannot do.
It'll take much longer than with a real arm,
which has no switches
and will not slip
or jam
or run out of gas.
But Brett wears it even when it doesn't work.
For just wearing it.
Makes him feel better,
especially in public.
For these children,
the most serious handicap isn't physical,
it is social.
When Brett was a tiny baby,
I used to take him out to the shops and the clinic and whatnot,
as much, if not more, than with my other children,
because I thought:
"Let him get used to being stared at,
"and poked", as some people do,
"right from birth."
Better to be used to half a dozen stares every day of the week,
than to just suddenly get half a dozen every Sunday.
Old people tend to be
the hardest to handle.
Old people sometimes
ask us in the street:
"Did you take those drugs?"
They somehow think
that Brett is a drug addict
who takes narcotics.
They think:
"These mothers have brought this on the child themselves."
And women in street have said:
"Shame on you,
"look what you've done to that poor child."
For a long time,
it would hurt.
Mothers who keep their children at home,
so that they may protect themselves and the children
from stares and unkind remarks,
are really making the burden far greater
because the child must come out into the world someday.
Unfortunately,
for a handicapped child,
the outside world includes relatives and friends,
for many Thalidomide families felt shunned and isolated.
Seeking advice, they were only offered embarrassed sympathy.
So they sought solutions among themselves.
We formed, while we were there together,
a world organisation
for all parents.
And we are now representing
over 6,000 Thalidomide children that we know of.
Since the meeting,
we've discovered there are several hundreds more
in smaller countries, and the whole thing
is growing all the time.
We joined the society to meet other parents,
to compare notes.
Not only successes,
but failures.
Really, the society was formed not just to raise money,
not just to pool ideas,
but so that people could share their problems.
Trouble shared is trouble halved.
In Germany they know exactly
how many children will be of school age next term.
They know how many will go to school next January.
They are so well-aligned
for what's going to happen in the future.
We're going to update our own records.
They know how to get the children to the hospital.
They've contacted headmasters,
to make sure the children will be accepted in school.
They really are on the ball about this.
They've considered it 5 years from now.
After that, they're going to consider the issue of work.
Is it the German government doing this?
It's the German parents.
We've got to look ahead,
to be much more concerned with them than we have up to now.
We all have our individual problems
but a collective problem has to be taken up.
Peter and John Hart
and the rest of the council,
have a lot of work to do.
I think we've helped in two cases already.
The children are coming up to nursery school,
not junior school.
And I think that
behind the scenes, one can do a lot
to select the schools where the children will be happiest.
In, out!
Like a jack-in-the-box!
In, out!
Like a jack-in-the-box!
I want you to come and sit round,
I'll tell you about Brett before he comes to see us.
Sit down so you can hear me, come here.
Do you remember me telling you about Brett last week?
Remember me saying that when his mommy made him,
there wasn't quite enough to make arms?
How lucky you are
that your mommy managed to make arms for you.
He's coming to see us this morning
with his special arm.
Hello, Brett!
How are you today? You came to see us at nursery school.
Come and sit down here.
Would you like to sit at this table here?
Do some work at the table.
Come along.
He's grown up with the fact that he hasn't any arms,
and he accepts things so completely as they are.
He doesn't mind
the children asking: "Where are your arms?"
He'll answer them sensibly.
They all seem to get on very well.
The other children tolerate things he can't do,
and make allowances for him.
The children accept these things
if you explain to them why it happened.
Growing up, they won't look at other people
and be horrified by things so much.
They'll learn to accept them.
Because there's an awful lot of deformity in the world.
The parents are much more worried than the child about it.
I suppose it's just
an in-born fear of any kind
of physical deformity.
Some people just can't accept it.
We've only had one
who did show a slight aversion.
She was very sorry for Brett,
but she wasn't sure
if she wanted her child to mix with him.
When he had his arm fitted,
he was very ready to try to use it.
He insisted until it got uncomfortable.
I'm hoping that the two arms will be more satisfactory.
He can then be with a normal class of children
and learn to write,
and to use his fingers
such as they would.
You can manage to put it in here for me.
You know, real school children can be very cruel
to other children.
Little ones like this
will accept him.
When they get to school, they start to criticize each other.
I think he might find it quite hard,
if he hadn't his arm.
I think he's an intelligent child.
It'd be a great pity if he didn't stay with normal-thinking children.
Brett has to go to school in three months.
We are very concerned about his inability
to handle his toilet needs.
The local school hasn't accepted him yet.
The headmistress is reluctant.
She's been making up her mind for months.
Listen.
How about we try with this sleeveless pullover, darling?
No!
You're forgetting how to use an artificial arm, now.
I'm not!
Try it on with this sleeveless pullover,
and then, see how it is.
No!
You'll forget all about it.
It hurts with the sleeveless pullover on, too.
- Where does it hurt? - On the shoulder.
What if I put more padding in here?
- That'd be alright? - That won't help it.
Why not?
Because...
I don't know!
We'll have to see if the doctors can make something better.
Alright.
So, research moved ahead.
Lady Hoare brought back from Russia a bioelectronic limb.
It has changed the lives of the arm amputees who've worn it.
The Nielsens went to see it demonstrated.
That's nice. It does look like a hand.
This is
basically made up of components coming from Russia.
The arm itself has been made in this country.
Basically, it's a British arm with Russian components.
This is the relay system and a dry cell battery.
- A rechargeable one, is it? - Yes, it is.
How long will it last?
They say it should last 3 days.
It depends on how much you use it.
And it can be charged over night.
I see you have two pickup controls there.
How does this operate?
This is worked by two electrode contacts in the socket.
It works like this: when you pull your hand round,
you're using the muscles here.
When you open it, you pull it back.
Basically, that is it.
The patient has only got to think about this.
There's no physical effort.
Is there any sensitivity in regards to feel
or pressure with it?
The patient says,
when they hold something,
they feel they've got hold of it.
They can feel this being transmitted...
It's what they say.
But to my mind, at the moment, the thing I like is,
it's a nice, relatively smooth, controlled action.
But it only provides one function, right?
Gripping and picking things up.
Once a patient gets used to it,
he can close it in stages
and open it in stages.
This will be of so greater value in the future,
as soon as it is adapted for children.
Many children, besides Brett, need help.
Like David Bickers.
He was with his mother at the hospital the Nielsens visited.
By sighting the valve controls right there,
and then use the gas powered equipment
That's promising for the children
if we can get the right pickup points.
We could use them for that purpose,
with other types of equipments, like the Russian one.
What can you do, David?
- I do painting. - You do painting?
- Toys. - Yes.
- Drums. - Yes.
Do you like using your arms?
You do.
What can be done with the limbs they have?
Most of these children have operations to free constricting skin
and exercises
that stretch tiny fingers and legs to develop them.
For every ordinary event in living
is a challenge to a handicapped child.
One thing is important:
that mothers should make it perfectly clear
to a child likely to be teased,
that they will not grow arms.
I've heard children ask their mothers
about their arms:
"When I'm a big man, I'll have arms, won't I?"
And the mother would avoid it.
"Let's come into the shop and buy some sweeties."
One day, that child is going
to suddenly be faced with the horrible fact.
"Why didn't you tell me I will never have any arms?"
I think it's very important that they know the absolute truth.
This quest helped Brett's parents with their own handicap:
self-pity.
It inevitably haunts families with a crippled child.
Because, then,
one can see
our child's handicap from the right perspective.
It isn't so grave.
Here are other children far, far worse off.
Yet, we are feeling so sorry for ourselves.
If the mother realizes,
that there are hundreds of other mothers
with far worse problems,
then one doesn't feel alone.
And the children learn this, too.
What's this?
Go to that boy up there. Go give it to him.
These boys have a spinal defect.
They'll be bedridden for the rest of their limited lives.
In Britain,
800 children are born every year with that same handicap.
- What colour? - Yours is orange.
- What colour's mine? - Yours is the white one.
Say bye to Ken.
Bye.
Goodbye, Ken.
Come along, Mark.
- Goodbye to the boy. - Goodbye.
Come on, Brett. Time to go home.
Feel the weight of that.
My God, that's surprising, isn't it?
You feel that, Barb.
Very heavy, indeed.
What type of hand do you normally use? A terminal device, or...
A mechanical hand with a control board on the inside.
The search led the Nielsens to a factory where the arms are made.
It has 10.000 clients on the NHS
in Great Britain alone.
This visit helped to calm their anxieties about Brett's future.
What job could he hold? What about marriage?
For one third of the employees of this factory
are handicapped themselves.
This is the progress department where the limbs...
Through having Brett,
the Nielsens discovered what "handicap" means,
in day-to-day living.
Feeding oneself,
washing, brushing one's hair.
The Nielsens' search began 12,000 miles away
in Australia.
Powered limbs are so new
they had to come to England to find them.
The search is not over.
The movements are still frustratingly simple,
but some children older than Brett
have already learnt to write and to feed themselves,
thus unlocking the chains of dependence
that bind their future.
This is the challenge.
It's no less difficult
than what other handicapped people have faced before
in separate, personal struggles.
Like Brett's.