Disability hate inducing video promoted by the Guardian

[trice]

Having read the blog this week that talked about "performing disability" and spending six months using a wheelchair myself after loosing part of my lung to cancer I was was annoyed to see this video on the guardian website today.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2015/jan/27/shoplifter-wheelchair-steal-food-coventry-marks-spencer-video

I am not condoning shop lifting, but would a petty shop lifting video be on a major newspaper website if the criminal had not dared to stand up out of their wheelchair?

Not everyone wheelchair user is paralysed. If we stand up out of our chair it doesn't mean we are faking, we use the chair as we can't leave the house without it. And we don't all hide our stolen goods in the things either.

My 16yo DN was in a wheelchair for a time after having both her hips pinned. We went on holiday as a family and she dared to get out of the chair to limp to the loo in the airport. A stupid woman had a go at her for pretending to use a wheelchair to get priority boarding. Disability hate crimes are really depressingly common and promoting videos like this must encourage more idiots.

Stealing food? I wonder if they've been sanctioned and this was the pnly way to survive.

The current regime is certainly encouraging a right-wing attitude to disability at the moment, and it is slowly slowly becomng known that disabled people are being severely affected by sanctions. Have a look at this thread if you haven't heard, there's a lot of good lnks on it.

I hadn't clocked that they were stealing food. I do hope that they were not doing it out of need.

I think that you can be both disabled and dishonest. I reject the "saintly deserving victim" stereotype as strongly as I do the "fake disability scrounger" stereotype.

Oh ffs

trice, of course you can it was just a thought. Stealing food is a bit... odd. Incidentally I then did a quick google, and whaddyaknow, food stealing is up in the UK. eg.

www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Food-thefts-increase-35/story-22820830-detail/story.html
www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/police-chief-desperate-birmingham-parents-6735348
www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/12/shop-thefts-rise-economic-downturn-bites

What was the 'ffs' for, starlight?

I used to work in Asda. Ordinary well off people stole food all the time - for the thrill of it apparently. The increase of food theft does seem to point to people stealing to eat which is a different thing.

I find it very difficult to believe that a person conceived a plan to obtain a wheelchair and fake a disability in order to then steal food. Which is what is implied by the posting of that video. Very strange.

I don't see that the video has anything to do with disability-bashing. Just bastard conniving thieves.

Sorry if I derailed this (over-zealously following my own thoughts) Do you want me to ask Mnhq to delete anything, or is damage done?

Stealing food is not odd or new - I worked for Sainsburys over 20 years ago and food & drink was stolen in massive amounts.
I don't know the situation in the case linked to but the unsavoury truth is that some people are professional shoplifters and as such will go to any lengths to get away with stealing stuff.
I would say that there are certainly people out there that will pretend to use a wheelchair if it means they can get away with shoplifting, just like lots of mums with prams don't always accidently put stuff in the bottom of the buggy and forget to pay for it

Surely the only offensive thing is the suggestion behind this thread that people with disabilities are all poor innocent lambs, who would never do anything like that. Or if they do they must have been driven to it, by the evil sanctioning government, because obviously they don't work and have money of their own. That is really patronising!

I agree with Starlight

People with disabilities are people...
And some people are cunts, some disabled people are cunts. What has this to do with hate crimes?

Hear Hear!