Give us a smile!

The last blog post was a sombre one, following the news of Robin Williams death. It seems to me that discussing disability humour is a fitting way to follow that tribute.
In the age of political correctness, humour can be a touchy subject. There are disabled comedians. Francesca Martinez, a successful stand-up and author, Adam Hills and Alex Brooker, two thirds of The Last Leg line-up, all mention their disabilities within their acts; just as Omid Djalili and Meera Syal will mention race, and Maysoon Zayid covers both options as a Muslim woman with cerebral palsy who also does comedy!
Early reports into Robin Williams death have cited his manic depression as something which manifested itself as a part of his comedy genius. It’s also come to light that he had been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. The same disease Michael J Fox and Billy Connelly suffer. Being linked with celebrities may make some medical charitable concerns very happy about the additional exposure, but for Parkinsons Disease charities, a connection with a high profile suicide is less than helpful.
Billy Connolly’s outlook was, ‘On Monday, I got hearing aids, on Tuesday, heartburn medication I’ll have to take forever, on Wednesday, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinsons….’ His humour and refusal to allow disease to slow him down probably had a much more positive impact for the charity and for other people living with the disease.
There’s much ado in the media about equality, and even though images of disabled people are more widespread than ever, even cropping up, ironically, on the NHS ‘Change for Life’ adverts..

Publicists go to great pains to be inclusive, but avoid being funny. And yet, in films, the opposite seems to apply.
Pierce Brosnan takes to a wheelchair in ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief’ not because he has a major disability, but just to disguise the fact that he is a centaur, half horse, same goes for Grover in the same film, using elbow crutches because he has the legs of a goat. Captain Barbossa, in the Pirates of the Caribbean films has a prosthetic leg with incorporated rum ration. Captain Hook in Peter Pan…. Need I say more??
Mad-eye Moody in the Harry Potter films has a prosthetic leg, and a false ‘magical’ eye. The new Box Office smash, Marvel Heroes Guardians of the Galaxy refers offers humorous references to a prosthetic leg, and a false eye, and no-one seems to be offended.
Although, I’m sure there will be complaints. I viewed a recent small YouTube clip of two people using sign language,( click here for the link,) and then I was surprised at the comments that the driver shouldn’t sign whilst driving! Does that mean deaf people never have a conversation on a journey? Something else you can’t do in a car!
I suppose though, if your driver is signing to other people in the vehicle, there’s no chance of a recurrence of the recent news story of a pilot who made a rather bumpy landing when his prosthetic arm detached during the flight – make a mental note to shake hands vigorously with any pilots you meet in future, just to check!
We all have to find ways to see the funny side, like the amputee who celebrates the anniversary of his operation by drinking himself ‘legless’. Attending our sports club can often seem like the ‘spares department’ with all the false limbs, and parts of wheelchairs lying around,
I’m crediting the good old World-Wide-Web for this bad disability joke;
“Three disabled guys,(a blind man, an amputee, and a guy in a wheelchair) are flying back with the USA team from the Paralympic Games in the Middle East, when their plane crashes in the Sahara Desert. The three disabled guys are the only survivors and are now stranded , so they wait for someone to come and rescue them. Nobody comes. They start to get thirsty so they decide to seek out water. The amputee leads the way, with the blind man pushing the guy in the wheelchair, and eventually they find an oasis. The amputee leader goes into the water first, cools himself down, drinks a load of water, walks out the other side, and lo and behold, he has a new leg! He is really excited and encourages his friends to do the same. The blind man offers to push the guy in the wheelchair, but he is refused because the guy in the wheelchair now wants to be ‘Mr Independent’ and push himself; he insists the blind man goes ahead. So, he goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water and walks out the other side, and lo and behold, he can see! Now the guy in the wheelchair is getting really excited, starts pushing with all his might, goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water and wheels out the other side. Lo and behold, New Tyres!’

Sorry folks!!!

End the Awkward

 

Currently, the cerebral palsy charity Scope is introducing a disability awareness campaign called ‘End the Awkward’, fronted by Alex Brooker. The idea is to give ‘able-bodied’ society tips on interaction with the disabled. This started me thinking about the dividing line. What kind of world is this where simple human interaction has been made awkward and difficult by the perception that there is essential difference, a vast chasm between the disabled community and the able-bodied?
There are many facets to this perceived divide; the recently disabled can allow inevitable bitterness and shock to colour their dealings with the society sector to which they feel they no longer belong. Consequently, any able-bodied people who’s only dealings have been as the receiving end of the wrath of the recently adapting may be reluctant to initiate further interaction in future.
Perhaps then, the awareness campaign should be targeted at the disabled too? After all, we are all just people. We all feel the same inside, and while everyone needs education to accept a minority group in society, the minority, no matter what group they are, should be aware of the efforts people are making towards integration. But, like all awareness and information campaigns, the trick is getting the word out to the right people. It’s often the case that the very people who need to listen just don’t, or won’t.
These days many older, (and not so much older people) are wont to complain about a lack of respect from the younger generation. Gone are the days when children were seen and not heard. It can be difficult to teach children the power of respect when they are not shown any, when they see poor examples from adults. In team sports, our players all know to listen to their coaches. The key to success is give and take in any sport, and more-so in inclusive sport, where any lack of ability or need for adaption is much more evident. Coaches need to adapt their style and, of course, the key is communication. It’s all too easy for everyone to ‘talk the talk’ in any situation, but when your name is in the frame, the key is whether you can ‘walk the walk’. For integration to work, for us to ‘End the Awkward’, we all have to walk the walk. If everyone just did what they said they would do, then ending the awkward would be so much easier. Solving the problems of society, achieving society as an harmonious whole is probably a pipe dream. Another old and clichéd saying is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, meaning that he who shouts the loudest gets the attention. It’s up to all of us to shout loud and long about ending the awkward; people are keen to band together in the face of adversity and to fight a cause.
The impending European elections have brought out like-minded individuals to group together and there are many squeaky wheels. The power of a ‘party’ is dependant on getting their message across and in order to get our message across we need to follow their example.
Our sports should unite us, we work together to make our club a success. There should be no Awkward to have to end.
Any group of people, together or individually can have a hidden agenda.

At Cumbria Wheelchair Sports Club, our agenda is not hidden. It is to be a flagship for bridging the chasm of diversity.

Shout about it, spread our message to even the people who don’t want to listen, and sometimes to the ones who believe they already know.

End the Awkward

http://www.scope.org.uk/Scope/media/Images/Publication%20Directory/Current-attitudes-towards-disabled-people.pdf?ext=.pdf

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/comment/alex-brooker-dont-get-hung-up-about-being-pc-theyre-tough-this-is-real-sport–enjoy-it-8092891.html