October 2011 Archives

For anyone who hasn't been following the story, here's an outline:

Undeniably talented comedian Ricky Gervais has been using Twitter to post pictures of himself pulling faces and describing them as 'Mong'. A few people observed that this could be construed as offensive towards people with Down's syndrome.

For the record, I am not offended, but I am annoyed. While Ricky Gervais claims that the word no longer has the same meaning, it is clear that it does, otherwise there wouldn't be such a debate. Gervais has done much in his career to challenge perceptions of disability, from the Office through to his Government funded advertising about employing people with disabilities.

But while he may feel that there is some subtle nuance in the use of the word Mong, it is clear that many of his followers on Twitter do not grasp it. Instead of letting the issue die a natural death, Gervais has 'unleashed' his followers on anyone who disagrees with him. Some of the recipients of some of the quite nasty comments are people who have personal experience of Down's and of associated bullying.

I do believe in free speech. I do believe that comedy should be controversial and may even be offensive. But with the right to offend should come some responsibility, especially if you are someone as popular as Ricky Gervais. I imagine that many of his supporters would balk at the prospect of defending Jim Davidson's routines from the 1970's. It is perhaps unsurprising that Gervais is on record as saying that he would be uncomfortable with using the word nigger on stage. Why is this different? 

To use the argument that anyone who disagrees is just jealous of his success is pathetic.
It is equally pathetic to claim that anyone who expresses a different opinion to Gervais is doing so only for reasons of self-promotion. It is insulting to accuse the mother of a disabled child of using their child's disability for self-promotion, just because they joined the debate.
  
To attack anyone who disagrees with his interpretation of the word Mong as being in favour of censorship is to completely miss the point. Surely that accusation is better aimed at anyone who shouts down dissenters.

If you ask me, I think it's time Ricky Gervais grew up and recognised the influence he holds. How he chooses to use that influence can have a profound impact on some of the most marginalised people in society.

He is not in the playground anymore. Words have consequences.

With Penny and Felix in Australia so that the little man can meet the other half of his family, I am still adjusting after a week of school run routine. Who knew there was so much time in the day before nine o'clock?

All these miles (slight exaggeration) clocked up to and from the school gate with a scooter balanced on my lap have made me think. If I got a huge elastic band, the scooter could return home without me having to carry it. Except then I'd need two scooters and two elastic bands.... No, not that. I find myself reflecting on how lucky I am to be in a situation that allows me to re-organise my day (by which I mean do less work) in order to give my time to single-parenting for a couple of weeks.

This is partly because I am a freelance writer/journalist and can therefore make reasonable use of the time between 9 and 3.30 without extra child care. But it is also because I am able to look after myself enough to be able to look after a small human being too. Not everyone with a spinal cord injury is that fortunate. Partly this comes down to the level of injury, but it is also due to the level of support that I have received and still do receive from family and friends. By creating a sense of security, they have enabled me to try (and occasionally fail at) things in order to make the most of what is left to me.

My determination/bloody-mindedness may have contributed to this, but without feeling fully supported, I would not be able to push hard against the things that make my life difficult. If my mobility and confidence were still at the levels reached after I had been out of hospital for a couple of years, I would have been extremely apprehensive about coping for two weeks. Instead I was only mildly apprehensive.

There have been other people who have made the first week relatively easy. Other parents from Rosalie's school have invited her on playdates with their kids and offered to pick her up on the way to school in the morning. All of this has been welcome, if only to keep her distracted from the absence of her of our family unit.

But perhaps more than anyone else, the person who has made the week stress free and fun has been Rosalie herself. Although only six, she understands so much about what I can and can't do, and is patient and cheerful most of the time. I could do well to learn from her example.

Finally, could I point you in the direction of the BT Storytellers for my article on a strange game of tennis, and observations on the subject of teamwork.

That is all.