We Were the Babies Without Futures

At the beginning of the 1960s, almost 10,000 children were born with deformities because their mothers took a sleeping pill that was considered harmless at the time. It was called Thalidomide (in Sweden, known as Neurosedyn). In this documentary “We Were the Babies Without Futures” we meet some of those who in the sixties were predicted a grim future. Parents were advised to abandon their children with the argument that they would never be able to manage for themselves, never achieve a dignified life. The producer Ylva Hemstad has met some of the 100 Swedes who survived one of the greatest tragedies of medical history. Today the survivors are around 30 years old and determined, independent, used of compensating for their lack of physical resources with ingenuity and a strong will. We meet Marie who has neither arms nor hands, but manages very well with her feet both in her work in an information department and in her free time. Mia has three children and cycles and rides and works as a swimming instructor before she trained to be a social secretary. Peter is blind and has no arms and has several fingers missing, but he manages his work with the help of a speaking computer which he controls with his feet. “We had a pretty lousy start, but things have gone quiet well anyhow.”