Jerk

[EastWestWhosBest]

No I’m not being rude. This is the name of a comedy series I heard being talked about in radio 4 today. The lead character is a young man with cerebral palsy.

The reason I’m mentioning it is because of a clip they played on the radio. It went something like this:

Student: this is Tim, he’s disabled
Tim: no, I’m not. I don’t identify as disabled. I identify as able bodied.
Student: oh. Oh my goodness. How dreadful of me to assume your ability identity. I must educate myself.

The two series are available on iPlayer.

But s lovely wokey woke person would never say

'This is X he's disabled'

Anyway yes haven't heard the thing so probs mi point in discussing!

@NiceGerbil

I thought from what I read they were being arseholes to him.

But I haven't listened to it.

He takes the piss out of disabled people?!

I imagine it's a bit more nuanced than that!

Definitely a lot more nuanced. He wants to get away from cliches of disabled people either being objects of pity or saintly or heroic. So that can mean taking the piss out of a disabled character just as you would take the piss out of an able-bodied character.

It’s on the telly gerbil

And he was taking the piss out off the wokie intersectional woman.

C4 catch up?

Which episode?

I'll have a watch!

I suspect I will have a lot to say

@NiceGerbil

C4 catch up?

Which episode?

I'll have a watch!

It’s on iPlayer.

Found it! 2 series.

Episode? I can read descriptions and guess if no one knows offhand!

Back in assume 30 mins.

MidCenturyClegs
This might be better moved to a different board as here we discuss issues relating to feminism. 
You are kidding, right?

No, I wasn't kidding. I do see the parallels between feminism and identity politics and how OP's thread relates. But I thought this board was to discuss sex and gender topics.

Oh I watched it!

A lot of thoughts that may be contraversial/ mean big disagreements!

But I thought this board was to discuss sex and gender topics. Nah! That's just what the Monitors and MNHQ say.

We, regular posters, newbies, and AN Others, use it as we have always used FWR.

We don't need, want or listen to thread police - beware lest ye be reciped!

Seriously GC women - watch this (episode 1 of series 2) on BBC iPlayer. It is a bloody marvel, I was planning to come on here to suggest anyone on this board watch it to brighten their day up no end.

@MidCenturyClegs

This might be better moved to a different board as here we discuss issues relating to feminism.

Given the way MN works nowadays there would be no point - any chat about Ep 1 of Series 2 of Jerk would get moved over to this topic quick smart once the thought police read and reported it .

I do think there is an extent to which disability can be a matter of identity. Like…I go through phases as to whether or not it feels right for me to identity as ‘disabled’. On one hand, I do have an ongoing medical issue, it takes a certain amount of work to manage and legally, yeah, I can class myself as disabled. On the other hand, it is managed. For long periods it doesn’t crop up. I don’t identify with a lot of the narratives around my condition that I hear from others with it. I dislike the way people tend to let the label ‘disabled’ overshadow everything else when you mention it and so I do my best to not use it.

Is that my being in denial about my disability?

Maybe, maybe not. What is a disability can be a very subjective and personal experience, often shaped by how you interact with the world around you. It isn’t an absolute. Very short sighted people clearly have an impairment, but it’s socially accepted and we have the technology to manage it, so you’d not normally call someone with thick glasses ‘disabled’. A friend of mine wasn’t considered ‘disabled’ pre-Pandemic – she just has a condition which means she can’t cope with covering her nose and mouth. Before the Pandemic this wasn’t really a big deal – she couldn’t go scuba diving, but that was really all. Now it’s a limiting factor, she needs special ID to fly and a lanyard to enter public spaces. So she’s become disabled. And I think how you feel your disability impacts on your life is a factor as well.

So, yeah. I think ‘disability’ as something you identify in or out of is not a laughable concept. Which maybe is also relevant to the topic of gender, I guess.

Interesting topic.

I have autism and some associated neurological conditions. But I've never thought to define myself as "identifying" as disabled. To me, if you have to "identify" yourself as something, you aren't whatever it is. Rather, it is how you see yourself, not reality.

And I like the idea of a disabled character (yeah, yeah; I know the whole "person with a disability" versus "disabled person" debate) being dislikeable and challenging the saint / victim trope.

He wants to get away from cliches of disabled people either being objects of pity or saintly or heroic. So that can mean taking the piss out of a disabled character just as you would take the piss out of an able-bodied character.

I like the distinction provided it's taking the piss and the person being disabled rather than taking the piss because they're disabled.

Seriously watch it.......Tim can no more identify out of having cystic fibrosis than a woman in rural India can identify out of being a woman. When he hears a load of woke bullshit on arrival at uni he suddenly decides to identify as able bodied and the woke students feel obliged to contort themselves into knots (and not help him even when he obviously needs help) in order to validate his choice. It is brilliant - right through to the end when he is called out for abusing his cis white male privilege.

Episode 1 Series 2 on BBC iPlayer - you can start at 5mins30 if you don't want to bother with the whole scene-setting.

Bloody genius - when Tim's carer explains he couldn't help knocking over some coke because "He is very disabled" the woke student retorts "He is not disabled. He is just another able-bodied cis white man who thinks he can do whatever he wants because he's got no lived experience of exploitation or suffering".

I was amused to read that anti-vaxxers are identifying as vegans in order to get to a desired outcome:

www.euronews.com/green/2021/08/04/anti-vaxxers-pretend-to-be-vegan-to-avoid-potential-vaccine-in-the-workplace

This is not to suggest that there's something wrong with vegans so there's no need to report this post.

@MsFogi

Bloody genius - when Tim's carer explains he couldn't help knocking over some coke because "He is very disabled" the woke student retorts "He is not disabled. He is just another able-bodied cis white man who thinks he can do whatever he wants because he's got no lived experience of exploitation or suffering".

Beautiful. I’ll confess I’ve not watched it yet, I came to post as soon as I heard the clip on the radio, but that just shows what has been said so many many times, you can only identify ‘down’.

@nauticant

I was amused to read that anti-vaxxers are identifying as vegans in order to get to a desired outcome:

www.euronews.com/green/2021/08/04/anti-vaxxers-pretend-to-be-vegan-to-avoid-potential-vaccine-in-the-workplace

This is not to suggest that there's something wrong with vegans so there's no need to report this post.

As a double-jabbed ethical vegan it really pisses me off that anti-vaxxers are taking advantage of that potential loophole.

“but that just shows what has been said so many many times, you can only identify ‘down’.”

Except that’s not true.

There are many things that may or may not create a disability depending on how it affects an individual. So there are plenty of people who don’t consider themselves to have a disability where others do because it affects them differently.

There are Deaf people who very much consider it to not be a disability.

So no, it’s not the case at all.

@tabulahrasa

“but that just shows what has been said so many many times, you can only identify ‘down’.”

Except that’s not true.

There are many things that may or may not create a disability depending on how it affects an individual. So there are plenty of people who don’t consider themselves to have a disability where others do because it affects them differently.

There are Deaf people who very much consider it to not be a disability.

So no, it’s not the case at all.

Yes! Strong agree! That's what I was trying to say but you're much clearer. The whole neurodivergent movement likewise.

There is something sweetly ironic about the Guardian including a gushing review pointing out the issues with self-id.

@Cazck

Agree with Nicegerbil completely. An illness, disability or condition should never define a person. It is just one part of them. I have had this debate many times before and feel very uncomfortable when one aspect of someone's life is seen to be used as an 'identifier'.

But that's it isn't it - gender shouldn't be a identifier either really.

I'm disabled in the sense I'm visually impaired. It's part of who I am but I don't particularly want to identify as one as it sounds to me like I'm happy about it and I'm not particularly?

I'm assuming the show is mocking the 'I choose to identify as' thing because just choosing to identify or not identify as something just doesn't work and they are showcasing this.

I can't choose to identify as an 18 year old because I'm not one and by doing so I'd be fraudulent.