Thanks for your feedback on the last couple of threads - we do understand that some of you feel strongly that we are not dealing firmly enough with disablism on the boards.
It seems as though the really sticky issue is not overt disablism (which on the whole most of you think we get broadly right) but with what some MNers consider to be covert disablism. For example, an OP where a MNer's child has been upset or hurt by another child and has failed to consider whether or not that child might have SN. Or last night's thread, where some of you considered that it should have been understood that supported accommodation for 'challenging' 16-24 year-olds would likely contain a good proportion of young people with disabilities.
Our difficulty is that these threads are seen by many as attempts to get answers to valid - if difficult - questions. Or they are the expression of that MNers' own, personal lived experience - and while we understand that threads like these must sometimes seem to lack understanding of the issues facing disabled people or the parents of disabled children, our instinct is to allow the questions to be asked or the experience to be related.
As you know our view is generally to err on the side of freedom of expression - but more importantly, in our experience the sledgehammer approach just doesn't work. Instead of changing views, it seems likely to make it almost impossible to discuss any subject relating to disability, whether closely or tangentially. We already hear pretty often from MNers who say that they're very anxious about posting on this issue (some are parents of disabled children themselves).
We know this probably is not the answer you're hoping for, but it's where we're at right now. We'll continue to discuss it carefully here, and we're going to contact a couple of disability organisations to sense-check our thinking on some specific issues which seem to come up consistently. We really do want to do as well as we can at this, for everybody, and we know we don't get it right 100% of the time.
In the meantime please do make sure that, if you do get involved in discussions, you stay within the TGs. We know that these are emotive issues which people inevitably feel very strongly about, but - as is the case across MN - PAs will be deleted, and those who persistently do so risk a ban.