LIVE BLOG: A legacy to stand on? The debate
All week, Channel 4 News has been asking whether anything has changed for disabled people after this summer saw the nation embrace the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
In our special series, A legacy to stand on, we’ve explored attitudes to disability, hate crime, transport and benefits in the post-Paralympic era. You can catch up on all the reports by clicking here.
We also want to know what you think. Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #c4legacy or go to our Facebook page. You can also comment at the bottom of this blog, or have a look below at your reactions to the story so far.
Throughout the week, you’ve been sending us your stories – some positive, some negative. In the film below, Channel 4 News Reporter Katie Razzall looks at some of the main themes which have emerged and follows up on one of the messages we received – from a school in Kettering where pupils with learning disabilities are running a sweet shop.
A legacy to stand on? A week of special reports
On Monday, we tackled hate crime and sadly we’ve had lots of people get in touch since then to tell us about their experiences.
While many people emailed us about serious crimes, including having crutches kicked out from under them and being pushed into traffic whilst in a wheelchair, others said that the problem was the constant low-level abuse and harassment, which many did not report because they felt they would not be taken seriously.
@channel4news #c4legacy had my crutches kicked away & was pushed over this morning whilst being told I should’ve been stoned at birth!
— Poli P (@misspbluedeva) October 24, 2012
@channel4news Not a nice way to start the day! thankfully police came & arrested her for assault & its all caught on CCTV #c4legacy — Poli P (@misspbluedeva) October 24, 2012
Kaliya Franklin, a well-known disability rights campaigner who blogs at Benefit Scrounging Scum, wrote: “There was also the charming people who left comments on my youtube account calling for me to be gassed to death…I think that’s the kind of abuse that disabled people routinely experience and then are never sure whether to report or not.”
On Tuesday, we looked at air travel for disabled people. We’ve investigated this issue before via our No Go Britain series but this piece really seemed to strike a chord. And when our presenter Sophie Morgan was prevented from flying because of her disability a few days later it caused a bit of a storm on Twitter – her original tweet generating 4,000 retweets. For more on this story, including easyJet’s response, click here.
@sophmorg @easyjet They can put a man on the moon but they can’t put a wheelchair on a plane. Pathetic.
— Tony Barlow (@Saltbar) October 24, 2012
On Wednesday, Paralympics presenter Daraine Mulvihill investigated the reality of prosthetics – can everyone be like Oscar Pistorius? It seems not – but she cleared up a few other questions in a Twitter Q&A.
@darainemul just read the piece, glad I did as seeing doc Monday about possible amputation of left leg above knee. Glad this came now
— Zec (@ZecRich) October 24, 2012
On Thursday, Sports Correspondent Keme Nzerem took a look at disability benefits. Our other reports have looked at the differences between Paralympians and other disabled people – but in this area, everyone is in the same boat.
@channel4news @nzerem What?! Do the government know what its like to have a disability? NO! I have autism and I am appalled with this cut.
— Rochelle (@RochelleK1994) October 25, 2012
To finish off the week of special reports, we looked at the positives for disabled people in Britain in 2012. While many are still facing major problems in their everyday lives, others feel that things are getting better.
Kevin French, who has cerebral palsy which affects his speech and body, emailed us to say: “Am I the only disabled person that feels at ease in Britain?”
He feels passionately that there is a positive legacy for disabled people in 2012. Kevin, who is an artist, model and actor – and the first disabled person to do a contemporary dance degree at Plymouth University – uses a wheelchair and has a carer. He uses a cardboard keyboard to communicate, once ran to be an MEP and has his own website – DisabledKevin.com.
In 1982, he was one of the first people to be awarded money by the Independent Living Fund.
(Click on the image below to see some of the stories we’ve been told on Facebook)
“After a year of going out alone, I was transferred from a handicapped youth to a confident severely disabled man, who, despite having a very bad speech problem, could cope in the ‘normal’ world and began to really love the independence and absolute freedom,” he wrote.
He described writing his email to us: “I started writing this in Costa Coffee. When I go, someone takes my money, I go sit on a table, then a cooled cappuccino and straw is brought and lastly, the person gets my head pointer and Blackberry tablet out, places the Blackberry on the table and my ‘hat’ on my head.”
He concluded: “Sorry to write a book but I feel despite the current political and economic negative effects on disability that I am concerned about too, there is a positive legacy that people should be aware of.”
By Jennifer Rigby
There are 7 comments on this post
I have written on these pages about many problems I have faced as a wheelchair user and been on C4 news discussing various incidents of disability hate crime I have incountered.
I use buses every day, trains at least once or twice a week & fly quite often and have had numerous problems and I have plenty to say on the governments Welfare Reform Bill – which I think is criminal!!!!!
But Kevin French it also right, there are many positives. Most people are kind and helpful and buildings are far more accessible than they were 20 years ago when my grandad used a wheelchair. Plus living in the UK as a disabled person is far better than if we were living in many Eastern European or African countries.
We need to share the positives, speak up about the good things and share good practises, but the issues and stories that C4 news have been covering are vital because they are daily reality for many and I congratulate the No Go Britain Campaign oon raising some very real iissuie, all the things I moan about every day have now been aired by others on National TV.
So yes things are better, but hate crime still exisits, many transport systems are still not accessible and to many the disabled are seen as a nuisance. We are having money taken away from us and I firmly believe this will lead to many living in poverty, so I dont think the UK is the best place to live or that we are in the best times.
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I suffer from type one diabetes and I personally find it difficult to deal with my ‘invisible disability’ in public particularly at school. its difficult to get my teachers to understand my situation and can sometime be difficult to get the help I need. if my friends notice me taking my injections at school there is always a million questions as to why I have to take them. when people hear that I have diabetes, they automatically think that its type two and think I have it because I’m fat, unfit and unhealthy, which I’m not. I believe that a better understanding of disabilities and disabled people would improve peoples attitude towards myself and others facing similar situations.
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paralympics was great for the athlete’s , to me its not changed the way society treat disabled, gvt have made it a whole lot worse for disabled people as soon as they labelled them as croungers, not all disabled can be athletes, just like not all able bodied people can…GVT SHOULD BE ASHAMED THE WAY THEY ARE TREATING DISABLED.
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The disabled, Hillsborough, Rochdale and Savile child abuse, care home abuse, welfare claimants: what do these elements of recent news have in common? They all involve the neglect, marginalisation, and demonisation of people or sections of a society, in denial of our common humanity. To rely upon stereotypical generalisations and a superficial understanding of social issues is both simplistic and ignorant. To make government policy on the same basis is obscene. Although the context in which Cameron said “We are all in this together” was wrong, it is right in essence, and unless we make the effort to understand each other and set our prejudices aside we can hardly expect to progress.
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Being visually imapired I have experienced the same sort of thing. abuse, he doesn’t look disabled. The only wrong thing with him is he is to idle to work.
DWP Routinely provides me with small print documents not bothering to give me large print documents. i have complained till im blue in the face it gets me nowhere
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The ones I found particularly offensive were look at him he can’t walk straight and he slurrs he’s been drinking an i haven’t. And then i gtet abused people say look at the state of you this early etc some tooo hurtful.
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Well, it is hard to differentiate. If someone is mentally disabled, they should be travelling. However, I can’t see a person in wheelchair going on s skiing holiday. I have met many people on the street when they were drunk telling me how they “do not have to work” because they are disabled; I mean young lads just suffering from the symptoms of heroine addiction. Should they really be on benefits? The real question here is: if you drink or spiff yourself to be sick, why should the rest pay?
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