MNHQ - are they disabilist?

Slating able bodied Posters? Your blue badge isn't a get out of jail free card?

Anyway glad you came along and gave another example of OP's treatment on the deleted thread. Illustrated the point beautifully

She probably didn't even see that she had upset the poster due to the tide of criticism, Walter. Much of it from you, wading in and demanding apology here and on the original thread, tbh.

*lived, not lives. Sorry.

I thinks it's all the ridiculous "use one syllable words because I'm disabled" stuff that is off putting.

It's unnecessary and unfair to people who haven't done anything to you.

Same as your original thread. You came on and slated able bodied people and the posters who agreed with you about how terrible your experience was (and of course it was) gently reminded you that they weren't disablist.

FWIW you really upset a poster who had a child with a hidden disability and you didn't apologise or even acknowledge that your attitude to disabilities that weren't your own was insulting, rude and upsetting.

So, I'm sorry but your blue badge isn't a get out of jail free card. You don't get to offend, insult and upset people because you had a bad experience and are angry.

God me too Bibbs. We must lunch darling...

Got you Pag. I honestly had never heard it before. I live in a rarified world of privilige.

Need a like button for that post

RebeccaMumsnet - my strong advice would be to do something more deliberate and considered than assuming because you have some people with disabilities on your team that you have this covered. As an organisation of immense power, who regularly are called on to voice women's/ mothers' perspectives, it would be much better to have a group for whom this is their lives experience to advise you.

This isn't about how compassionate or understanding you are, or try to be. It is about your responsibilities to your community and beyond.

Sorry that should have said it's "always awful"

True Pagwatch.

I think people just always look for a stick to beat people with on AIBU and it's awful awful ut especially when some compassion is needed like this situation.

Bibbity

There are a few generic terms that I've heard groups of people with disabilities use about the non disabled population.

I don't know where they come from. I suspect a few grow out of the desire not to always be the group with the name that isn't just 'people'
I've seen people with aspergers use 'norms' . Walkie talkies is just like that I guess.

It almost doesn't matter whether people view the phrase 'walkie talkie' as a problem or not.

The point for me is that her choice of phrase was just used as a stick to beat her with. (That's obviously as far as I read and the fact that it was deleted suggests it didn't get any better)

Posters fell over themselves to ignore the upset the op was feeling and to patronise, dismiss and talk down to the op because she had the audacity to be angry.
The sniffy suggestions that she was being blocked in by van drivers and taxis most mornings because they all had invisible disabilities were all part of the same attitude.

I'm going to ponder if being called a walkie talkie is going to dent my immense power in the world as an able bodied, educated white woman. I don't think it's going to take me too long.
If I'm feeling my immense privilege is damaged then I'll contemplate whether my correct response is to berate a woman who is angry at her daily efforts to get to work being made unbearable. Because, you know, that's the same.

I can't believe people are calling the term vile and horrendous.

Walking and talking are hardly pejorative. People are lucky if they can do them.

Far better term than the opposite insults.

I've never heard this phrase walkietalkie before. What does it mean/who does it refer to? (sorry if I've missed it somewhere).

What Mrs Devere just said

Your thread went nuts as most parking threads go I don't think MN is disabilist though I do think some posters have no clue what it's like living day to day with a disability and expect the disabled to suck it up and stop moaning that attitude is probably why your thread was deleted

By implication, Oliva has demonstrated that my thread was treated differently to the norm

I think you have misinterpreted this. This kind of thing happens with lots of threads and MNHQ then apologise for being heavy handed or whatever. It's not "different from the norm" and not singled out, it just could have beenhandled better. As is the case with many threads about many subjects.

walkie talkies which was a phrase coined in the 80s

And that is where it should have stayed. It is rude and unnecessary.

And no, I am not fucking disablist for thinking this.

Bourdic bloody well done for starting this thread and bringing peoples and Mumsnets attention to this!

I'd read the other thread and I replied on there,I read it to my DH and he was disgusted but sadly not surprised at what happened to you and the fact that no one thought to back you up at the station and he just like me couldn't believe the way you were treated on here!

I'm disabled,I wasn't born disabled,we have 5DC and 2 of our DC our disabled,neither my DH or our 3DC that aren't disabled found the term walkie talkie offensive,my DH laughed when he heard it.

I think alot of the posters on this thread are getting it now,not everyone(if anyone)who is disabled will be bright and light and smiling constantly whilst putting up with everyday crap being thrown at us because we dare to be disabled.
People as a whole wouldn't expect anyone that was attacked because of the colour of they're skin,they're religion,they're sexuality,they're sex ect to smile like a sodding Disney character every time someone treated them like an equal human being because why should they,that's normal,that's how everyone should treat one another all the time!

Were not asking for anything anyone who isn't disabled,who isn't living in constant pain,who hasn't been given a shorter life span isn't asking for.We want to be treated with respect,we want to be treated like human beings,we want to be treated like were supposed to be here.
Sadly that's something that's lots of us will never experience!
Lots of us will die never having been treated like an equal!

I think it was fine for people to disagree with the phrase you used, surely that's what a discussion forum is about? I didn't see how the thread went but I can well imagine that some posters went well beyond "I don't think that phrase is appropriate because..." into personal attacks and hyperbole. It's a shame there wasn't a comment drom MNHQ before it got that far, but I know things often get busy on their end so I'm sure there was a reason for the delay.

I'd always challenge someone if they used of disablist language. I really didn't like the use of "walkie talkie", especially since it was being used in the middle of a post about how every single non-disabled person was essentially disablist. I don't think it was automatically wrong to object to being described like that, especially since many posters went on to agree that you'd been treated awfully in the incidents that you talked about in your post.

A quick question. I wonder if MNHQ have a series of 'steering groups' or similar to help them navigate this and other topics? It feels like they need handling advice for this and future situations, and that should be from people for whom this is their lived experience.

It would be wrong to think that they can "figure this out" in isolation.

I would be looking to bring together posters in a closed forum/ irl to seek advice and input.