Inheritance, The (ATOM Study Guide)

An intimate story of a courageous family

The inheritance addressed in this personal and courageous film could hardly be more daunting. Huntington’s Disease is a hereditary neurodegenerative condition that typically manifests in mid-adult life. When Australian–New Zealander Bridget Lyon was diagnosed in her thirties as carrying the Huntington’s Disease gene, she knew she would one day deteriorate like her mother Judy Lyon. When Bridget’s two older brothers were also diagnosed as carriers of the neurodegenerative gene, the worst was confirmed: that Huntington’s Disease would impact an entire generation of their family.

Bridget and her partner Jeff McDonald decided to make a documentary about their experience, starting in Australia (where they were living at the time) and finishing in new Zealand, where they moved to be near Bridget’s mother, who was rapidly declining due to the onset of Huntington’s Disease. Struggling to face up to the crushing impact Huntington’s Disease was having on her family and the harrowing possibility that her eldest son may have inherited it also, Bridget and Jeff take the audience of The Inheritance into the heart of a family whose love of life and devotion to each other is truly something to behold.

Curriculum Links

This study guide to accompany The Inheritance has been written for students in Years 10–12 studying:

• Biology
• English
• Ethics
• Health and Human Development
• Media Arts
• Psychology
• Science