Friday 23 August 2013

Is verbally attacking disabled children and families the new sport?

After having a few years of seeing disabled people, clearly unable to work,being vilified in the press and by ATOS on a daily basis, many people on twitter and social media have hung their heads in despair and many campaigners like Sue Marsh have fought back with every ounce of their being to even project a more balanced view of the obstacles disabled people face in Cameron's "disability-hate" UK.

Recently and more sinisterly (if verbally berating disabled people could get more sinister) a new trend is emerging. It has reared it's ugly Medusa-type head firstly in the form of " The Apprentice Failure" Ms Hopkins, and today with the BBC of all organisations - blaming parents for their children's disabilities. This is an all time new low. Ms Hopkins is a so called "social commentator" and after reading her bio she seems to have no medical training or expertise. The BBC is owned by us- it has a duty to represent news items with no bias, or so you would think.

Ms Hopkins has said "Marvellous. It is Learning Difficulties week. Is there an Academic Excellence week. This country is a liberal left leaning minefield of pc." She has also said,"A medical condition is a badge, absolving the wearer of any responsibility to deal with a problem, requiring in its place sympathy, compassion and support from the state" She also refers to ADHD and Asperger's syndrome (autism) as "new conditions".

Whilst Ms Hopkins can be excused her ignorance and be dismissed as yet another reality TV non entity spouting off for the fun of it, she sets a dangerous precedent. Ms Hopkins has followers on twitter and social media. While she deliberately pours forth controversial opinions to promote herself, she is not mindful of either the people who follow her who may then take this opinion out onto the street in increasing disability hate crimes, or aware of the wider propaganda that disabled children and their parents face in the battle to be accepted in a society that is shunning them more and more.

To many parents surprise BBC Breakfast ran an item today on Anxiety Disorders in Children. It became increasingly alarming that the blame was being pushed onto parents. The resident GP made no attempt to link many anxiety disorders in children to bigger disabilities. Many children for example suffer autism alongside an anxiety disorder, yet the blame was being put fair and square at the feet of parents.

For this type of propaganda to now gain favour in mainstream television is a huge concern. Disabled children, like Disabled  Adults already battle common discriminations on a daily basis. Disability hate crime is rising daily as is Disability Hate Speech: Ms Hopkins being a huge contributor.

Is verbally attacking parents of disabled children the new sport? I want no part in a society that thinks it is ok to condone this. Standards have dropped so low, some people are unable to actually see the depths to which society has fallen to, in our race to vilify the disabled : for what crime exactly?

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