Following BAFTA winning series Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds is embarking on a “new deeply personal journey” in a new ITV1 & ITVX documentary asking, given the potential for her children to share her disability, should she have children?
In the Flicker Productions documentary, Simmonds confronts the decisions she would, and expectant parents do, face when they are told that their child may be born with a disability.
She explores the choices around prenatal testing, the implications of those decisions for parents and the evolving societal perceptions of disability over the past few decades. The film will show the impact of these decisions through Ellie’s eyes as she meets parents faced with life-changing choices.
Through carefully obtained access to one of the UK’s leading Foetal Medicine Units, Ellie gains unprecedented access to families who are navigating the often challenging decision-making process that comes with a prenatal diagnosis of disability. She will explore the possible assumption that a life as a Disabled person is one of limitation and question whether the representation of people like herself in the public eye has brought down barriers.
Ellie will meet with doctors, geneticists, cardiologists, midwives and counsellors who guide these families, exploring the emotional weight of the decision and the complexities involved. Decisions that she herself will have to consider in the future if she wants children. And decisions every one of us might one day face ourselves.
Ellie Simmonds said: “Now having the understanding of what my birth mother and so many others experienced 30 years ago when it came to disability and pregnancy, I want to see how things have changed for parents today. I also want to challenge some of the perceptions that exist today about children born with disabilities. It’s a deeply personal subject to me, and I’m just so grateful to all those who have let me embark on what are deeply personal and emotional journeys of their own.”
Jo Clinton-Davis, Controller of Factual ITV said: “We’re so pleased that Ellie is making this insightful and deeply personal film for us. Packed with emotional human narratives and layered with potent dilemmas, this is a film that will shed new light on a significant story of our times with the power both to move us and make us all think: ‘What do we feel? What would we do?’”
Colleen Flynn, Executive Producer Flicker Productions said: “Ellie has an unique ability to tackle the most nuanced subjects with heart and understanding. And this film is no different. As Ellie delicately navigates the emotionally complex decisions many parents across the country are facing when they are told they are having a baby that will likely be disabled.”
Ellie Simmonds: Should I have Children? is commissioned for ITV1 and ITVX by Jo Clinton-Davis, Controller of Factual ITV and Sue Murphy, Head of Factual Entertainment ITV. For Flicker Productions the Executive Producer is Colleen Flynn.
Jon Creamer
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