No Distinguishing Features (ATOM Study Guide)

No Distinguishing Features tells the stories of six people with disabilities from across Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Six people who were given a strict roadmap to life from the moment they were born. Six people who went on to tear those roadmaps to shreds. From a young Paralympian’s journey to achieve his childhood dream, to a mother fighting for her intellectually-disabled son’s right to a fair wage; these people share their lives with honesty, humour and heartbreak. The film is structured as an anthology, weaving the six stories of its characters together to highlight the similarities and differences in their life journeys. The key experience that the characters all share is the limited expectations placed on them at birth, and the incredible ways they overcame those expectations.

Curriculum Links:

No Distinguishing Features presents an opportunity to explore themes such as equity and diversity, resilience and inclusion. It can be used as a springboard for discussion about social norms and expectations, our own and others’ responses to disability, and how disability is portrayed in audiovisual texts. The film will have particular interest and relevance for secondary students,
in particular in the context of HASS (Civics and Citizenship) and Health and PE.

No Distinguishing Features is also relevant in the following learning areas:

• English
• Media Studies
• Community Services
• Health

The film provides opportunities to reflect on human diversity, resilience and the importance of advocacy and acceptance, making it a useful resource to address the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities – Personal and Social Capability and Ethical Understanding.