So now I’m back, and I’ve spent today catching up.
Just to say, I love this:
And I’m enraged by this.
This is 2009 ffs, what on earth is going on?
To those parents complaining that a disabled TV presenter might scare your children – you should all be absolutely fucking ashamed of yourselves.
That’s all.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Awwww… Sean’s cool, but this should have been Mickey’s year.
The other thing is just fucking bizarre. You don’t think it was some kind of stunt, do you?
I saw Cerrie Burnell on the telly the other day, my kids were watching childrens tv, i noticed she had one shorter limb and I admit I thought it was cool that she was there, which means I noticed it more than i should have, cos shes really exactly what youd expect from a kids tv presenter, bubbly, smily, colourfully dressed, patronising in that talking-to-kids way. Her shorter arm isnt really relevant, or shouldnt be. My own kids didnt mention her having only one hand, they obviously didnt feel it was relevant and werent in the ten-questions-a-minute mood.
I switched on to the Wright Stuff this morning, and I couldnt believe this was an issue. People complaining she gives their kids nightmares? I cant imagine how fucking awful Cerrie must feel, its inhuman how people are talking about her. They actually had a phone in about whether it was appropriate for childrens tv to employ her.
Id be willing to put a bet down that these kids arent bothered at all, its the parents and grandparents who have the problem. I hope she is okay cos its pretty devastating, all this, really horrible and shameful.
My nephew has a very similar disability (Cerrie Burnell has not got ‘one arm’ she has two arms, one is foreshortened). Children are likely to go to school with other kids with disabilities, are their parents going to take them out of school? It’s ludicrous. Also must we assume that these children have never seen anyone with any kind of visible disability anywhere else? There was a radio 5 phone in last night on the subject, but everyone who called in seemed to agree that it was ludicrous. And as for explaining to kids – you tell them that people have different body shapes and sizes, what’s wrong with that…..
Yeah, jeez, what the hell. Idiot ableists.
Kids ask stuff. That’s what they do. I don’t get the whole thing of ‘but OMG my kids ask me stuff’ thing – also often spouted regarding anything related to sex. As Polly Styrene says, you simply explain that people are different. I am told that when I was about 3, I saw a ‘black’ man and spouted ‘oh look mummy, that man looks funny!’ or something like that. My mum explained that people have different skin colours. I mean, obviously I had been in a pretty priveleged environment not to have seen a black person before the age of 3…I mean I assume I hadn’t…that said, all kids try to make sense of the world around them so perhaps I had. Kids try to make sense of gender (which is a minefield). Anyway. Perhaps if a parent complained about people who aren’t white being allowed in places where their kids might see them and ask embarrassing questions, that would be seen as a bit, um, racist?
Re: Cerrie Burnell – i was so disgusted to read the reports that parents had complained about her. Do they intend to stop their kids coming into contact with disabled people? Furthermore why would they want to? The attitude they’re showing is shameful.
More from me on the complaints about Cerrie Burnell:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/25/disability-children
Article on ‘Milk’ in Diva.
“Lesbians and women in general are more or less invisible in the film, as if gay men, were making the only strides forward for gay rights at the time. All the scenes with Annie’s Posse of lesbian activists ended up on the cutting room floor”
Plus ca change – but one reason I won’t be watching it (plus it looks like rare old shite).