Narrated by Tom Conti

It has been estimated that in Britain one child in 100 is born mentally handicapped. Certainly there are more than half-a-million mentally handicapped people whose condition requires the intervention of one government service or another during their lives. Often confused with mental illness, mental handicap is a subject most people shy away from. This film, shot in Britain and Sweden, examines the lives of four mentally-handicapped people today in the light of the treatment they would have received in the past and of the care they might - given changing public attitudes - hope, to receive in the future.