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[Insanity_rules]

OK guys before this starts I want to point out that our disabled athletes are genuine you beaut heros!

Mrs Insanity rules and I were watching the commonwealth games last night and I was marvelling at the disabled swimmers and how they competed. Of special interest was how the completely blind swimmer knew where the end of the lane was and Mrs Insanity rules pointed out that he had a person holding a stick out that touched his head before he got to the end.

So then that little thing jumped on my head that said this is inapropriate but I have to say it or I'll burst. I said yeah cause it'd be a bastard if your guide dog couldnt keep up eh? And she reacted as if I'd said Adolf Hitler was my hero (he's not by the way)!

I at least thought it was a bit funny, what do you think? Are we that PC that we can joke anymore? I'm the first to take the piss outa myself so I think that at least gives me some licence right?

If I go completely blind I'd have to get a greyhound as a guidedog to keep up with the bike LOL

[GR81]

i thought some of those EAD people did really well.
i was telling a mate about the ozzie guy that came first (the one with one arm). mate wanted to know if he was swimming in circles lol

but well done to them... i hear one of the EAD girls made the 800m able body finals, pretty well done!

[Grahameeboy]

No in my experience we should not be too PC with disability because if we do then this just diminishes disablity because then we are treating disability as different when, as in this case, the disabled person is doing something which abled bodies people do and on a level playing field.
My Daughter is disabled and at 3 has a powered wheelchair. When I take her on the ferry to daycare, she whizzes around and some people say things like "all she needs now is a number and a roll cage" and humurous things like that.
Disabled people are normal and when we get all PC this actually hightens the fact that they are disabled and sets them aside which they would fnd hurtful....when I worked in a gym there was his guy who had MS and used a wheelchair....I often joked about his go faster peel off strips and would sometimes nick his wheelchair and he loved it because he was being treated as 'one of the lads'.
Of course there are limits but barriers are just that and should be broken down when appropriate.

[Grahameeboy]

It is interesting that there have been 41 views but only 2 replies which kinda answers your question Insanity.......why are people so afraid to comment on disability?

[Harry33]

Hell I take the piss out of everything,including myself. My friends often say your going to hell for that one, and sometimes I have to agree but it was damn funny

[sAsLEX]

It is interesting that there have been 41 views but only 2 replies which kinda answers your question Insanity.......why are people so afraid to comment on disability?

I think they are afraid of you.........

[onearmedbandit]

I take the piss out of myself more than anyone else (well probably not knowing my friends!), jokes about swimming in circles etc. Hey if you can't laugh at yourself then who can you laugh at? Bring on the jokes.

[Colapop]

... as if I'd said Adolf Hitler was my hero ...

And what was so wrong with Hitler??!!?? Sure, at the end he was a complete nutter but you negate the fact he took his country from the depths of depression and created a strong enough support base to conquer most of Europe.

As far as being PC goes, people are too afraid they'll be misunderstood. There's a difference between doing your washing in the bath because your epileptic brother is cheaper to run than an agitator and laughing at somebody who can't get their wheelchair over the kerb. We got past Gay bashing didn't we? Well ok maybe we didn't but GB doesn't mind!

[Colapop]

I take the piss out of myself more than anyone else (well probably not knowing my friends!), jokes about swimming in circles etc. Hey if you can't laugh at yourself then who can you laugh at? Bring on the jokes.

How do you scratch your right elbow? Do you ride in circles too?

[The Stranger:Me]

It is interesting that there have been 41 views but only 2 replies which kinda answers your question Insanity.......why are people so afraid to comment on disability?

Nah, I have commented on your disabilities.

And commented on other disabilities such as old folk and gays.

[Grahameeboy]

[QUOTE=CaN]Nah, I have commented on your disabilities.

And commented on other disabilities such as old folk and gays.[/QUOTE

I guess because you CaN eh.......that is all your stupid comment really deserves.

[BuFfY]

I think that most of us say our little comments in our heads but are too scared to say them outload in fear of seeming like a cold heartless bastard!

I think it is so fantastic that they are allowing disabled people show off their talents at the Commonwealth Games... a lot of them would do way better than those who are able bodied.

I think we have become PC about this because we don't want to discriminate against people who are different.. which I think is a good thing. On the weekend I had a group of women who are IHC come into work with a caregiver... I didn't even realise they were until she gave me the check... I love it how they are now being given the opportunity to live a normal life.

[Grahameeboy]

I think they are afraid of you.........

Who me......I am harmless...........silly boy go and wash your bike..

[outlawtorn]

Fuck being PC, is the language of cowards, tell it like it is.....

[Ixion]

Maybe they could have guide dolphins?

Seriously, I've worked with/known quite a few people with disabilities of one sort or another.

In the early stages of disability most people (I think - this is totally amateur observation) go through a period where they are struggling to come to terms with the disability. At this stage they can be very sensitive to any comment at all about it, and it is best to say nothing. Obviously, doesn't apply to those born disabled.

Once that stage is worked through, then people are perfectly capable of telling the difference between a good humoured joke and a hurtful jibe.

I think it is demeaning to a disabled person to *not* recognise the disability - it's making the disability something to be ashamed of. One should, I think, accept a disabled person's disability as just part of who they are- like having red hair. Neither purient nosiness about it, nor embarassed "shh don't say anything".

And it is usually the non-disabled onlooker (like Mrs Insanity_Rules) who objects not the disabled person. The objection reflects the objectors "uncomfortableness" about disability.

A cruel jibe is of course another matter. But even intellectually disabled folk can tell the difference.