Dottoressa Marta Moglie – English version

Finally, straight from Poland, a Netflix TV serie focused on disability. “The Mothers of Penguins” and the life of Kamila, a young mama who struggles with the suspect and the diagnosis of autism of her 7 years old son Jas; a difficult theme, not frequently chosen because hard, but damn real. Because it is so difficult to understand such a peculiar situation, unless you live it yourself.

Autism, as a spectrum, can show so many different faces, and this is the reason why it can be considered a hidden disability.

Unfortunately, it is also difficult to be diagnosed, especially in the very first years of life; not to mention people who receive a late diagnosis, during adolescence or even at adulthood. 

A diagnosis which explains so many interrogatives, behaviours, and that sense of feeling strange, inappropriate, unable to live properly in this world.

In “The Mothers of Penguins” we see a young single mum and professional MMA fighter trying to choose between two paths: going on with her life pretending everything is fine (even though her son has been suspended at school because of violent behaviours). Or trying to take a break. Understand. Accept.

Because the only school which seems to accept him is a private “special” school, and even though it looks like it is an uncomfortable solution, it reveals to be the one that Jas prefers. In this school, the boy can be himself, he is accepted for who he is and is capable of experimenting friendships.

Only this way, the awareness in Kamila raises and brings her towards a full acceptance of her son. Because acceptance is a feeling that must be processed and managed, in order to make it a starting point and a strength, not a weakness. As penguins are animals that live in a group, the mothers of penguins find strength in constantly supporting each other. To survive, to find stability and a different kind of happiness.