[2] Figures appearing in the film included actor Billy Barty; Jóhann K. Pétursson, a 7'8" circus entertainer; Sandy Allen, who was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest living woman in the world; and Peter Strudwick, a German-American marathon runner who was born without feet.
[4] Allen personally attended a later commercial screening at Toronto's Carlton Theatre in October.
[5] Jay Scott of The Globe and Mail called it "Rasky's finest film, and that assessment includes Homage to Chagall, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
"[1] Maureen Peterson of the Montreal Gazette praised it as "a documentary about the handicapped that has warmth and humour and is almost miraculously devoid of voyeurism and sensationalism", concluding that "if a work of art is something which nourishes our spirit and alters our perception, then Being Different is a work of art.
"[6] Michael Walsh of The Province, conversely, contrasted it unfavourably against Tod Browning's infamously controversial 1932 film Freaks, writing that "I couldn't shake the feeling that Being Different is too self-consciously well-intentioned, a film rather desperate to mask its less-than-wholesome voyeuristic tendencies with goodwill.