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IndigoBell support thread

10 replies

betterwhenthesunshines · 18/09/2012 15:02

I see from another member that Indigo Bell has been banned from MN. I would just like to say that it was her advice that led me to look into help for my DD. Without that I truly believe she would not have made the advances she has.

Indigo's views mat not have been proven scientifically, but she certainly helped open many people's eyes to alternative ways of helping their children. People could choose to listen or ignore as they wished. She always took time to help people who were stuck and frustrated. I miss her and MN is a poorer place without her.

AT the top of this page Our SN area is not a substitute for expert advice. While many Mumsnetters have a specialist knowledge of special needs, if they post here they are posting as members, not experts.
So I propose that MN reconsiders. Please.

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MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:08

Hello

Thanks for drawing our attention to this thread. IndigoBell asked us to ban her, actually.

We had been in touch with her following a large number of reports from Mumsnetters who were uncomfortable about the way she presented her opinions about dyslexia - including some who felt that she was implying they were effectively to blame for failing to cure their own child's condition.

We explained to her that, although we welcome knowledgeable posters - and our boards are all the better for them - we don't have any 'experts' on MN. Mumsnet is all about peer-to-peer support and no one should consider their posts - or expect others to consider their posts - to carry more weight than anyone else's.

Unfortunately, IndigoBell's response was to ask us to ban her.

Thanks
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:23

Hi badvoc,

That's really not what we said.

This is the mail IndigoBell was sent (in response to which she asked us to ban her):

'Hi IndigoBell,

We have mailed you previously about your website and we notice that you are still giving advice to MNetters about dyslexia. We can see that you have adopted the position of 'expert' on this - and this is something that rather runs counter to the MN philosophy.

MN is a peer-to-peer discussion board and, because no one's qualifications are checked, we don't accord anyone expert status. Of course, people with expert knowledge are free to post with their views and opinions but should never expect others to give their posts more weight than anybody else's.

We're also a little concerned by some of your statements about dyslexia - the ones that imply that it's curable if only parents make the effort to find and pay for the right treatments.

While of course it's fine for you to express that opinion, the tone in which you're expressing it does rather infer that parents who don't - or aren't able to - do this are responsible for their child's continuing dyslexia. Which, we hope you'd agree, is neither supportive nor helpful.

Could we please ask that you refrain from such pronouncements in the future.'

-

'if she had said that someone with dyslexia was retarded you would have defended it on the grounds that you want non sn areas of MN to " be educated"'

That may have been so in the past but, as we've repeatedly posted over past months, that is no longer our policy and we do delete disablist posts when they're reported to us.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:31

@GoldPedanticPanda

If Indigo believes that she cured her DD's dyslexia then she should be able to say that, she's expressing her point of view based on her experience.

Indigo was absolutely free to express her opinion that she cured her dd's dyslexia. We had no problem with that.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:42

@Badvoc

he very fact that MN used to tolerate disablist views and your answer "but it's ok we dont now" Is glib and offensive to me. ok?

Were sorry that you think we're being glib and offensive. That's not at all our intention. We were trying to acknowledge that we did once take the view that 'education' was the way to go with ignorant opinions but, many months ago, we realised this was not an appropriate response to posts that used disablist terms - even in ignorance - so we changed our policy. We could understand that you may have been offended by our previous policy, Badvoc, but we're truly sad to hear that our acknowledgement and policy change offends you too.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:46

@coff33pot

It's daft bring her back please ......

Just to be clear - IndigoBell asked us to ban her. If she wants to get in touch with us to discuss coming back, we'd absolutely welcome that. But at the moment all we've done is act on her wishes.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 16:52

@zzzzz

People felt she was effectively blaming them for failing to cure their children AND YOU BANNED HER.

We banned her because she asked us to.

Sorry to keep reiterating this, but it is an important point.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 17:06

@coff33pot

but Rowan of mnhq has asked her to stop saying she has cured her dd?

We did not ask her to stop saying that she had cured her dd. We had absolutely no problem with her saying that.

Our concern (based on a significant number of reports from other Mumsnetters) was that some other posters felt she was implying that if their child continued to have dyslexia, it was a result of a failing on their part - and they were finding that implication upsetting.

Our request to her (as you can see from the mail) was that she should reconsider the tone of some of her posts.

This is a request we make of Mumsnetters all the time, by the way; there was nothing unusual (for us) in us asking her to do this.

Her response was to ask us to ban her.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 17:07

@Badvoc

You asked her to stop telling people of her experiences with her dd and ds.

No - sorry, but this is categorically untrue. At no point did we ask her to do this.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 17:14

@bialystockandbloom

MNHQ you didn't actually have to ban her though did you?

When posters ask us to ban them (which does happen from time to time), we take it to mean they no longer want to be a part of Mumsnet - and we tend to do as they ask.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 18/09/2012 17:17

@Catsdontcare

Exactly bialystockandbloom, deregistering is one thing (and could have been done giving indigo the choice to return) but banning is another thing alltogether, surely?

It's the other way around actually, Catsdontcare. Deregistering is irreversible. Bans can (sometimes) be reversed.

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