Different Moms

Produced and Directed by Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy

Narrated by Alfre Woodard
Premiered on Lifetime Television in May, 1999

Every year, there are over 60,000 normally-developed children born to parents with mental disabilities. Different Moms profiles three such families and the challenges they face:

• Tim and Elaine Mayfield, both of whom suffer from mild mental retardation, are a young married couple with two small children. With the support of a group in their community, they are learning productive ways to maintain their authority in the face of their kids' intelligence, which will soon surpass their own.
• Margaret Main, a middle-aged woman with a moderate case of mental retardation, lives with her teenaged son Floyd. With the help of a community outreach group, they have both learned to combat the stigma associated with Margaret's condition.
• Juanita Ingraham is a middle-aged woman with moderate brain damage stemming from a childhood illness. She and her two grown daughters tell of her struggles to raise them in spite of abusive and exploitative husbands, the disapproval of her own family, and their one-time shame to admit she was their mother.

With the appropriate support and skills training, mothers and fathers with mental retardation can be wonderful parents; the stories told in this film show what is possible when such families are afforded the continuing support and guidance they require. However, most communities lack the very specific resources and training these families need; there are currently no more than 40 programs in the United States that are prepared to address the needs of these families. This film serves to raise awareness of an important and often-ignored issue, and speaks to the question of what makes a mother.

- This film has been made in collaboration with The Arc of the United States and Lifetime Television.