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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off at Michael McIntyre

190 replies

Stayinin · 07/12/2019 22:02

So I just saw the show where they made people who needed glasses take them off and see what they could see (not much), for laughs and prizes.
I have very low eyesight and that really made me really cross that they make fun of peoples disabilities like that. They wouldn't ask someone in a wheelchair to just 'crawl along the floor, go on, just for our amusement '? Aibu to be so sensitive or was it banter? Xx

OP posts:
MistyCloud · 07/12/2019 23:56

@FoamingAtTheUterus

Oh piss off, I'm extremely short sighted, my sister and brother are both blind as bats. As is my DS, DD, sil and nieces...... and we've already stolen the idea for a Christmas game and been planning it on messenger (( Christmas lucky dip style )) You must be exhausted getting so wound up about fuck all, all the time. Hmm

How very splendid that your whole family find being 'blind as a bat' so funny that you can play a jolly little game all about it, and chortle about being visually impaired. Hmm

Hmm

Pretty good chance I'll go blind at some point due to glaucoma rampaging through both sides of my family yet I still found it hilarious. 💁🏻‍♀️

Are you actually OK??? Serious question by the way.

MistyCloud · 07/12/2019 23:58

@FoamingAtTheUterus

Oh and in my spare time, when I'm not crashing into lamp posts I'm also a carer for my DC who actually do have disabilities........their slightly shit eyesight doesn't even register.

Umm, I'll ask again, are you OK? Confused

overnightangel · 08/12/2019 00:00

The only thing YABU about watching that unfunny smug tosspot in the first place.
For those of you who are saying you’re being over sensitive, they do t have to live with what you do, just ignore them.
I hate the whole “my husband’s sight is terrible and he found it funny so so must you” shite, as if it’s up to other people to tell you what you’re upset by or as if it’s a competition.

Schuyler · 08/12/2019 00:00

Many people who wear glasses are not disabled in any way, shape or form. They do not have significant visual impairments and wearing glasses is part and parcel of their life. This is how I saw the segment on the show and I was not offended at all. I didn’t think it was hilarious or anything but I couldn’t find it in myself to become enraged or bothered. I do have a visual impairment and many times, humour takes away some of the emotional pain and sadness but I don’t speak for anyone but myself.

PinkyU · 08/12/2019 00:00

There is a vast difference to someone who has a visual impairment than someone who needs glasses which may correct vision to almost average.

FoamingAtTheUterus · 08/12/2019 00:02

MistyCloud the op compared crap eyesight with people who actually are disabled. (( Did you not read the op ?? Was it too difficult for you ?? ))

As a carer myself I found it bizarre. And if I wasn't I'd still find it bizarre.

If I'm seen as being a bit of an oddball because of that then that's absolutely fine. 💁🏻‍♀️

justcly · 08/12/2019 00:07

I'm perpetually pissed off at Michael Macintyre, although it has nothing to do with this glasses thing. His existence alone is enough.

Riddleofthesands · 08/12/2019 00:08

-4.75 here. Hate having crap eyesight and needing reading glasses/varifocals/contact lenses but it’s a nuisance not a real disability. Very grateful for whoever invented lenses etc. I think it was just a fun item and I was not offended in the least but I do understand you being upset because having poor eyesight is crap.

For me it helps to laugh at things.

Birdsfoottrefoil · 08/12/2019 00:12

Of course being myopic is a disability. One that precludes you from certain occupations. It is why you can get subsidies for glasses if you are on low income or have a complex prescription. The fact that glasses/contact lenses/laser eye surgery can overcome the vast majority of that disability in most cases doesn’t stop it being a disability, just one that is relatively easily adjusted for (until you get a detached retina due to your myopia)

MintyMabel · 08/12/2019 00:22

With or without a wheelchair you still can’t walk. Ever.

DD uses a wheelchair. She can walk.

Lindy2 · 08/12/2019 00:23

I wear glasses and am short sighted.
I watched the show and laughed. It was funny.

The "game" part of it was simply to lead up to the proposal which I thought was lovely. I welled up a little when she got close enough to see what was going on.

It's light entertainment. Not high brow, not deep and meaningful but simply easy watching with a bit of fun. After several sad bits of news in my life this week, it made me laugh and feel good.

NemophilistRebel · 08/12/2019 00:25

It’s shit needing glasses or contacts. Even shitter when your eyesight is so bad or complex that even with the most expensive lenses you still can’t see very well or in certain lights

Anyone I know who has a prescription over -5 can’t safely drive in the dark

That’s not a huge prescription in the grand scheme of things and is very limiting

People who need glasses can’t do certain jobs

Gwenhwyfar · 08/12/2019 00:30

"Being short sighted isn’t a disability, it’s a pain in the neck at times but it’s not a disability so YABU."

It can be actually.
A friend of mine is short sighted and gets her glasses for free because she's officially classed as disabled.
I'm -5 and I'm not, but at a certain point it can be.

Gwenhwyfar · 08/12/2019 00:32

"Anyone I know who has a prescription over -5 can’t safely drive in the dark"

Oh really? I can't drive and wasn't really planning to learn, but does this mean there's no point then as I wouldn't be able to drive in the dark?

Birdsfoottrefoil · 08/12/2019 00:40

I am over -5 and can drive in the dark safely.

EBearhug · 08/12/2019 00:40

I wasn't entirely comfortable with this, and I can only imagine how unnerved I would have felt to be in a large audience mostly of people I don't know and being asked to remove my glasses and not be in control of it or really know what was going on. But then there's quite a lot of that show I don't like - I would never agree to hand my phone over, and I wouldn't be impressed at being woken in the middle of the night. I also don't like public proposals, because it makes it very difficult for the person being asked to say no, so it's actually quite coercive.

Basically, Michael Macintyre isn't that funny.

Poissonpoison · 08/12/2019 00:49

Didnt watch it but fgs the ignorance of people on here is astounding.

I am deaf. With hearing aids I can pass as hearing (to a point) but without things are very difficult. I am disabled. Being registered blind is a disability and is recognised under the equalities act. Merely wearing glasses is not.

Blondebakingmumma · 08/12/2019 00:51

I think in life to laugh about hardship is a coping strategy

newdeer · 08/12/2019 00:56

YABU to watch Michael Macintyre with your glasses on!

Ilovemypantry · 08/12/2019 00:59

It wasn’t a real game, it was set up for the proposal. I think all the people he chose to “play the game” were in on it from the beginning and played along.
I also think that all his “games” are set up...the “send to all” text messages and when he went into members of Westlife’s hotel rooms when they were apparently sleeping...all set up!
I used to like his stand up comedy shows but hate these silly games shows he does now.

Elbowedout · 08/12/2019 01:50

I didn't watch the programme so can't comment on whether it was funny or not, but I am sure it was. Taking the piss out of people who can't see properly is always hilarious.
My son probably would have laughed actually. He has developed a fairly black sense of humour around his visual impairment....sorry, minor inconvenience......over the years.
He has had so many funny things happen to him regarding his eyesight that it is hard to pick one to share, but I think the best one was in year 7. A couple of comedians stole his glasses at the bus stop and then some others "helped" him onto the bus. But would you believe it, it was a bus that was going in the wrong direction, and what with not being able to see where it was going he was nearly 40 miles from home when he got off. What a hoot! You can imagine how we laughed.
He was a bit upset about it at the time, but I just told him to toughen up. Obviously if he had mobility issues, autism, a learning disability, deafness or some other real disability then that would be bullying and totally unacceptable. But he is just a kid with glasses so he needs to stop being a snowflake and learn to take a joke. After all, we all know that everyone who wears glasses just needs to pop them on and they are absolutely fine, and completely normal. Well, nearly normal.
OK, he can't read the whiteboard at school, needs large print books and extra time in exams. He will probably never be able to drive, can't participate in lots of popular sports and pastimes and has limited options on future employment, but besides that and a few other trivial bits and pieces he is just the same as his peers. Kids with glasses have always been fair game to make jokes about. Ok, if he had a white stick or a guide dog he might be entitled not to like it, but until then his problems don't count and he needs to get a grip. All the people who need reading glasses say so, and they should know.

MinervaSaidThat · 08/12/2019 02:18

YABU for comparing wearing glasses to a disability.

75% of people in the UK need to correct their vision, it's hardly a persecuted minority.

PepePig · 08/12/2019 02:27

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Yabu. Of course.

LastMichaelmas · 08/12/2019 02:55

I'm pretty shortsighted (–11-ish) with a couple of dioptres of astigmatism, and also, coincidentally, disabled (not a wheelchair user though). I don't personally consider my crappy vision a disability — it has a pretty minor effect on my life, as I can get good correction with glasses or contacts, though the minification, distortion, chromatic aberrations, problems with contrast etc. of glasses, and the discomfort, loose approximation of my prescription, blurring and lens movement with lenses, do affect the quality of my vision a bit. But I can drive at night, read everything I need to, and generally function no differently to anyone else. My acuity with refractive correction is better than the average person's, despite all the above. And I have human microscope superpowers Grin If somebody who has myopia without significant deficits in vision when fully corrected wants to consider it a disability, then I guess I'd have no major conceptual issue with that. It's an impairment for which they need to use specialist equipment. I'd just think it was a bit over the top. I don't think it would be very nice to take the piss out of me for having crappy vision when I'm not using any correction, though, disability or not, but that's not what was happening here, is it?

LastMichaelmas · 08/12/2019 02:56

Shit, that could have done with a paragraph break or two 😂 Can I blame my eyesight…?

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