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I sawÌýthe Ian Dury biopic last night 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll', which featured a bravura performance byÌýAndy Serkis. I won't rehash anyÌýreviews of it. My fellow musos -ÌýRadio UlsterÌýbloggers Mickey Bradley & Stuart Bailie - have been there, done that and are sporting the proverbial t-shirts!

What struck me though was here's a film with a centralÌýcharacter who refers to himself asÌý'a raspberry ripple',Ìýbut it isn't a storyÌýhung up onÌýdisability.ÌýÌý

The screenplay by Paul Viragh was beyond box ticking and while it made Dury's disability from childhood polio an important part of the story,Ìýthe central story was Dury's relationship with his son Baxter.

A very differentÌýfilm toÌý'Rain Man'Ìý(1988). WhileÌýDustin Hoffman is textbook brilliantÌýas the autistic Raymond Brabbit,Ìýwinning an Oscar for his performance, what did it really say aboutÌýautism, apart fromÌýa prodigious talent for doing sums in your head very very fast?Ìý

Twenty-twoÌýyears later, andÌýaÌýfew nights ago onÌýprime time American television, HBOÌýaired another autism-related story. It was 'Temple Grandin' played by Claire Danes, the actressÌýfamous to a generation of tweenies in the mid-90's as the heroine of 'My So Called Life'. She's widely tipped to win an Emmy for her performance.

Like Ian Dury, Temple Grandin's story is remarkable. Diagnosed as austistic when she was three-and-a-half, she is now 62-years-old, Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and one of the world leaders in the ethical treatment of animals. I don't quite understand it, but somehow her connection to cows in particular helped revolutionise the world's slaughter houses.

I haven't seen the made for tv movie and can't find any info on the web about a UK broadcast date. But if the reviews from the States are anything to go by it would seem that, like 'Sex & DrugsÌý& Rock & Roll', here's another mainstream film that deals with disability, but in the context ofÌýan overall complex human life story.

It's good to see thatÌýdisability can be part of a movie, but not the sum of all its parts.Ìý