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Unless you’re a parent and a surprise diagnosis for your child has come your way, you probably won’t have heard of ‘Welcome to Holland’. But it’s a bit of a thing if it has.

The essay is shared between parents of children who’ve been given a shock diagnosis. For almost 40 years, it’s been passed from person to person, like a ‘welcome to the club you never thought you wanted to be a part of’.

Â鶹Éç Correspondent Katy Watson was handed the essay within days of her son Otis’s birth.

Across this series, Katy speaks to parents whose children have a range of conditions. It’s a broad church of people – with an even broader range of reactions and experiences of a diagnosis. One thing they all have in common is the realisation that the issue isn’t with their child, it’s with society.

Episode 1, Italy: the shellshock moment with Emily Perl Kingsley, and Stuart Reid.

Presenter: Katy Watson
Series Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
Series consultant: Emma Tracey
Executive Producer: Joe Kent

With thanks to Emma Perl Kingsley, author of Welcome to Holland.