For decades, a group of mothers from Cohasset, Norwell, and other South Shore towns gathered around kitchen tables, school meetings and community programs to help each other navigate a world that often told them their children did not belong. A new documentary, “Raising Us,” tells the story of how those women built something larger than support groups — they built community.
Produced by Jen Plante Johnson and directed by Sandi Johnson, “Raising Us” follows five mothers, Maria Plante, Wilma Goodhue, Taffy Nothnagle, Karen Coyne, and Norma Grassey, who have spent the last 50 years raising children with Down syndrome and autism while advocating for dignity, inclusion and opportunity. Through archival footage and present-day interviews, the documentary traces how friendships formed during moments of uncertainty evolved into a lifelong network of caregiving, activism and belonging.
At the center of the story is the South Shore Mothers Group, formed in the 1970s and 1980s by women searching for guidance at a time when families raising children with disabilities were often isolated. Many encountered medical professionals and educators who expected little from their children.
“When Jay was born with Down Syndrome, they said he'll never walk or talk or have any emotional relations with anybody. You should put him away,” recalled Taffy Nothnagle, Jay’s mom.
Producer Jen Plante Johnson said the project began after sharing a book written by members of the mothers group with a filmmaker whose brother also had Down syndrome. The emotional response convinced her the women’s experiences reached far beyond the South Shore community.
“I've never heard the mother's story so honest,” Plante Johnson recalled the filmmaker telling her after reading the book.
That honesty remains central to the documentary’s message. Rather than presenting motherhood as self-sacrifice alone, “Raising Us” examines how caregiving reshaped the women themselves.
“The funny thing is, we raised our kids,” Maria Plante says in the film’s promotional materials, “but I can't imagine what my life would be like without Peter. He really raised us.”
Plante Johnson said the documentary is also intended to create connections for families still navigating similar experiences today.
“We want to use it as a tool,” she said. “We want to create something that we can offer to people with no fees and no strings attached to program it, to use it to help build parent groups, help people come together in real life.”
The women featured in the film say those relationships remain as important now as they were decades ago. Though many of their children are now adults, new families continue seeking out the group for guidance and reassurance.
“They need each other,” Nothnagle said of younger parents entering the community today.
The film remains in production and is currently community funded. Plante Johnson said the team is seeking additional financial support and community partners to help complete the documentary. For more information about the film or how to support this project, please visit https://www.raisingusdocumentary.com/.