The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility
My List
Your request could not be processed.
This film is already in your list

Physically Disabled People (6)

  • Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior
    Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior
    Dan Curtis 2003 51 min
    This feature documentary is a portrait of Luke Melchior (1973-2021) who, at 26, had already lived longer than most people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive wasting of the muscles. Knowing his life would be relatively short had made Luke feel an urgency about making a lasting contribution. Living independently, with the help of 3 homecare workers, he ran a web-based business selling outdoor gear, and chaired the board of the Disability Resource Centre in Victoria, BC, where he was a passionate advocate for the rights of the disabled.

    Bearing Witness consists of 3 films, each approximately one hour long, on people with life-threatening illnesses. The series also profiles Jocelyn Morton, who died of liver cancer at 44, and Robert Coley-Donohue, who died of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) at age 74.
  • Canadian Screen Magazine No. 4
    Canadian Screen Magazine No. 4
    1945 10 min
    Big Liz Brings Home 12 000 Happy Canadians: Canadian soldiers return home from Europe on the S.S. Queen Elizabeth. Troop Carrier to Airliner: Military aircraft are converted for use as commercial airplanes. B.C. Salmon Run: Commercial salmon fishing and processing in British Columbia is shown. Vets Regain Efficiency with Artificial Limbs: Rehabilitation programs for Canadian veterans allow them to become proficient in the use of artificial limbs. Students Produce Art China in New Industry: In Woodstock, Ontario, high school students participate in local ceramic-ware production.
  • enfants du silence, Les
    enfants du silence, Les
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Michel Brault 2006 23 min
    This film looks at the world of children with hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis. With its straightforward, rigorous cinematic style and intimate approach to the subject, the film focuses on the human rather than the technical side of the problem of hearing impairment. It urges parents to be vigilant, because early diagnosis facilitates treatment. In French with English subtitles.
  • Medicine Under the Influence
    Medicine Under the Influence
    Lina B. Moreco 2004 1 h 17 min
    This feature documentary tackles a taboo subject: the tragic effects of life-sustaining medical treatment on infants. Through the courageous testimony of a handful of doctors and therapists as well as the shocking stories told by devoted parents of disabled children, this film denounces the lack of support offered to science's little "miracles." Once saved, the children are more or less left to their fate by a medical system that does not give them the therapy needed to improve their quality of life and develop to their fullest potential.
  • New Faces Come Back
    New Faces Come Back
    Richard Jarvis 1946 28 min
    New Faces Come Back shows the part that plastic surgery played in giving disfigured servicemen a chance to resume normal lives. The story is told from the point of view of a Canadian flight engineer who has been injured in a plane crash. The onlooker lives with the young airman through the whole process of his physical treatment, his social readjustment during convalescence, his appearance in public again, his treatment by English friends and, finally, his boarding the boat for home, hope and anxiety struggling in his heart. Some of his old buddies are on the deck. They not only recognize him but welcome him joyously. We know that if the home folks do as well, his chances for a happy return are good.
  • We Regret to Inform You...
    We Regret to Inform You...
    Eva Colmers  &  Heidi Janz 2015 11 min
    In a check-box society that functions by dividing us into neatly-defined categories, where does someone with a strong mind and a weak body fit in? Dr. Heidi Janz - award-winning playwright, accomplished academic, and self-described ‘crip’ – has a curious problem. Despite her obvious physical limitations she is denied financial assistance from government programmes because of her “productive” mind. Following Heidi through her everyday life, with all its unique responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges, We Regret to Inform You... offers an unsentimental, and unapologetic, look at what it means to be both “disabled” and “productive”.