"The first goal of therapy is self-help"! Hmmm, well perhaps that gives us an indication as to just how this UN documentary has been constructed. Accompanied by one of these orchestral scores that you're never quite sure if it's playing at the correct speed, we are shown some frankly quite terrific images of young folks with varying degree of disability who are enthusiastically determined to thrive. Passive exercise, physiotherapy, teamwork and play are all used by trained professionals and with only a very limited focus on the embryonic science of prosthetics, this is all very much an human process. Some of the language might come across as a little uncharitable, the terminology a bit brutal by 2024 standards and the children are all referred to as "he" - even when it's abundantly clear they are not a boy! That said, though, it's hard not to see and admire the inspirational motivation that underpins this ten minutes of hope and will-power amongst these children.
3 Reviews
there are other kinds of disabilities too
lee_eisenberg29 January 2016
With World War II over, there was going to be a lot of need for care-taking. Leo Seltzer's Oscar-winning "First Steps" looks at a special type of care-taking that was going to be important in the post-war years. The focus is an occupational therapy camp for children with disabilities. These tykes were cast out of society, seen as freaks, and so the specialists help them learn how to function normally. The material is a little dated, but it's still an important look at those who provide some of the most crucial help. If it got made nowadays, it would have to incorporate a focus on non-physical disabilities like autism. But anyway, this is nevertheless a documentary that everyone should see.
Even after 66 years, still quite useful and pertinent
llltdesq17 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This short, which won the Oscar, is about the rehabilitation of the disabled, specifically disabled children. Having been there and done that myself (I was born with a disability and have done a fair amount of physical and occupational therapy) this short is of more than passing interest. There will be mild spoilers:
This short talks about rehabilitation of the disabled, focusing on children broadly in the beginning, showing how occupational therapy can often take the form of play or fun work for a child. Swimming is also a useful form of physical therapy for many disabilities. Toward the end of the short, they focus on one boy's efforts to learn to walk. The exercises he went through, the therapy he went through, was very familiar to me. A fair number of the exercises were still in use very recently, when I had to rehab from a broken leg a few years ago. They're still in use because they work.
Therapy is hard, repetitive work and a good therapist is worth their weight in platinum. A bad therapist can do more harm than the disability. Something this short touches on nicely has to do with one of the greatest challenges which the disabled can face-attitudes, their own and those of other people. For all the hopeful phrases found in the narration here, all too often in that era and for some years after, kids wound up being warehoused as "for the best". Raising children is a challenge even under "normal" circumstances. I was lucky and had a mother who didn't give up on me. Not every child is so fortunate.
Excellent short which is still relevant today. Most worth seeking out. Most recommended.
This short talks about rehabilitation of the disabled, focusing on children broadly in the beginning, showing how occupational therapy can often take the form of play or fun work for a child. Swimming is also a useful form of physical therapy for many disabilities. Toward the end of the short, they focus on one boy's efforts to learn to walk. The exercises he went through, the therapy he went through, was very familiar to me. A fair number of the exercises were still in use very recently, when I had to rehab from a broken leg a few years ago. They're still in use because they work.
Therapy is hard, repetitive work and a good therapist is worth their weight in platinum. A bad therapist can do more harm than the disability. Something this short touches on nicely has to do with one of the greatest challenges which the disabled can face-attitudes, their own and those of other people. For all the hopeful phrases found in the narration here, all too often in that era and for some years after, kids wound up being warehoused as "for the best". Raising children is a challenge even under "normal" circumstances. I was lucky and had a mother who didn't give up on me. Not every child is so fortunate.
Excellent short which is still relevant today. Most worth seeking out. Most recommended.
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