MNHQ .. Can we talk about disability bashing?

[Brownsugarshortbread]

Over the years i have posted on and enjoyed MN.
Sadly there seems to be a growing culture of it being okay to have a go at disabilities, those who claim DLA and those who's children have 'invisable' disabilities such as ADHD and ADD.
The terms 'freak' and 'scrounger' have been batted around and comments from some posters IMO certainly boarder on harrassment and discrimination.

When certain posts or posters have been reported, some have been removed, yet a lot haven't.

And while I agree with free speech, these types of comment or reaction to these comments, are not an education for those bigoted posters. Nor do those whose lives are touched by disability wish to be used to educate those posters.

Disability Harassment

is unwanted behaviour based on disability,
impairment or additional need. Such behaviour may include comments that are patronising or objectionable to the recipient or which creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for people with disabilities. Disability harassment includes inappropriate reference to disability, unwelcome discussion of the impact of disability, refusal to work with and exclusion of people with disabilities from social events or meetings.

lenin trouble is mn hq would have to care to do that, they seem not to, yes I am still smarting at being told to hide the thread.
my son was bullied at school, my nt son, they used his sister to get at him, calling her a spaz(used to tell him to point out she has athetoid cp not spastic but ...) when I seen grown on ups on here supposedly intelligent grown ups using freedom of speech to use these words I just remember his tears. then I get angry,

when people then justify their ignorance with posts like..
"I think OP is overreacting or looking for a reason to get really upset... IME its also a cultural thing - in Australia there are dozens of very un-PC terms in common usage that would get you thrown onto a bonfire here. I think there are far worse things you could be called than a spaz but i'm from the colonies too. (One of my favourite brands of cheese in Australia was 'Coon' )"

followed by a smiley I loose patience.
then you are told oh hide it if it upsets you by a condescending email from mn hq........

then the people complaining are told to read the rules, !!!!
low tolerance ....... Zero tolerance please

Oi, stop arguing with me justine. I was sticking up for you.

Frankie Boyle is a twat though. Find someone handsome making mong jokes and (I weep as I confess this) lots of mners would be a bit ' leave him alone. It's just a joke. Thank God my dh isn't pc..'

"These discussions, because people speak so personally, have incredible power to inform and educate."
so you want us to educate and inform, yet you won't support us,

you know what sometime sI get tired of educating and people not listerning and repeating same thing over and over .Then people figuring well mnhq not deleting it so guess it is ok .You are infact condoning it by not saying anything mnhq

yes, why should we educate people who are insulting our children and then get called the "PC brigade" and "SN police" etc, we have enough to be dealing with in real life.

I do think people who 'know' this discrimination are the best people to educate. I realise this may get tiresome for you but it is vital. I only was able to sit ds down and explain why using the word retard was unacceptable because of things I have learned on Mn whereas a few years ago although I would have still pulled him up and not tolerated it at all my argument would have been less informed and more based on me laying down the law rather than having any examples of what it really means to use that terminology.

It's very draining to inform and educate at times though, and speaking personally is a double edged sword - yes, people may be moved by your story, but equally any old troll can use it as fodder for hideous comments. So I tend to avoid informing and educating unless someone has asked outright and politely.

oh yes mn hq your stance on educating is working so well.....

"The thing about these woolly liberals is that when it boils down to it, they are often quite nasty pieces of work. Always quick to point the finger, desperate to catch people out for saying the so-called wrong thing and deeply antagonistic towards anybody who dares to questions whether their way is the right way. They think they can bully people into not using certain terms or words when they have decided that such terms are now offensive. Anybody who doesnt speak how they want is accused of being a racist or what-not. It's quite pathetic really."

last post at the moment on the thread you deem so important it has to stay....
so now anyone who is offended by the word is a bully or a wooly liberal....

hmmmm this educating doesn't wrok does it, the thread just gets more offensive,

Okay so I've caught up.

Actually that response justine isn't really on tbh. I agree that you are in effect condoning the use of offenisive disabalist terms, in the name of education to the masses by posters. What you IMO should be doing is educating the masses by clearly showing that derogatory terms will not be tollerates at all. People may then actually start getting the message, rather than spouting ' ohh SN police'.

It is when an institute that reaches the masses such as MN puts a foot down with a firm hand on these matters, that education is successful.

By doing so, it would not stop any genuine debate at all. Merely make people think before they type such offenisive drivel.

Once again Justine could you please answer the following question:

Why is disablism tolerated on these boards when for racism, sexism or homophobia there is a zero tolerance policy?

And leave the flannel out please.

Im sick of educating. How hard is it to not use insulting disablist language? How hard to have good manners? How hard to stop using insulting terms if you realise they hurt?
Ffs

By Justine:
"We do realise some of you get tired of making the same old arguments, but in truth how else are you going to change people's minds and move people on? These discussions, because people speak so personally, have incredible power to inform and educate."

We are not just tired, we are exhausted from having to "educate" when we should be getting support. I am from am ethnic minority and in rl, I often have to educate about racism, I am a woman and have to educate about sex equality, in other words, things are difficult enough without the burden of educating people who should know better on mumsnet. Please understand, that we only started making progress against racism when the courts started taking a very strong line against it - the wishy washy re-education on a one-by-one basis had very little impact in the grand scheme of things.

Shoesy, while it is true that there is a cultural difference in Australia, there are still a lot of people here with SN children who would be equally offended by the disablist bile that is spouted around.

And I challenge it here too if I hear it. I have troubles every time the cricket is on - the Aussies happily use the terms "Pakis" to refer to Pakistan, because it is their time-honoured tradition to shorten the name of everything and they don't see it as racist. Perhaps not - perhaps they didn't have the hate-filled situation that we had in the UK back in the 70s and 80s (not sure about earlier, I wasn't around to know then) - but it still makes me cringe every time.

It certainly isn't amusing - and the makers of Coon cheese have been challenged for using a racist name, so it's not all backward here.

I think what I'm trying to say is that being "from the Colonies" (rude in itself, IMO) is no excuse for nodding and accepting any form of -ism.

It would be all very well if my words did inform and educate.
They don't though. They are often twisted by some vile troll and absolutely nothing is done about that troll directly calling me grasping, greedy, selfish, being told to stop breeding defective children because I have more than one disabled child.

Nothing is done. Many posters stand idly by not even saying a word, mind you that apathy must come from the very top eh?

You can only educate someone if they are open to learning in the first place, MNHQ.

There is no hesitation. Racism, sexism, homophobia, the McCanns.

MNHQ have no problem in setting site standards and ably enforcing. What this comes down to is a refusal to comply with the Equality Act because they don't feel that families with those who have disabilities are worth it.

I'm so glad this has been started (although I'm late to the thread). It has appeared to be a more constant theme recently, anytime disability is mention, either in terms of specialised equipment or money, there appears to be an increasing number of posters who appear with the sole aim of pointing out the flaws of the disabled, including the use of horrendous terms.

I don't know if MNHQ can be tough on them all. Plus I would hate to think that these posters can have their hideous views deleted so no-one really knows their true views on people with disabilities. Personally, a warning then potential banning from IP addresses, rather than the deletion of posts would be my preference as that way the ignorant posters have at least had a chance to rethink their stance and use of such language.

But no, the frequent disability bashing that is happening on these boards should not be able to continue.

I reported the comment last night and started the thread asking people to complain. The comment was eventually removed only for the poster to repeat the comment on my thread. I reported it again before 8am this morning and i didnt get an email from MNHQ till nearly 10 to 4 telling me it had been removed again. Not good enough MNHQ far too slow response.

the sad thing about this thread is it will die, we have once again been fobbed of by the towers, and nothing has changed, discrimination will continue.