"It's the Thing that counts..."

That was to GrannyTwice

I didn't mind people asking in the slightest when in plaster, in fact it was far preferable to being invisible in a wheelchair for months! But then I'm the sort of person who chats to anyone, regardless of where I am, but I'd never be intrusive, just friendly.

The word Coloured to describe someone has been a no-no for at least 30 to 40 years - where have some of you been?

Elegran - you are verging on the insulting now. My disability is Jt a ' dirty little secret' and there is no way I feel second class because of it. What would make me feel second class would be someone, as in your example, asking me at a social do what was the matter with me? What they should be doing is asking me the sort of questions they would ask say one else - about my job, where I've been on holiday, my dgc etc. Asking about my disability means that is how they are seeing me and I am way more interesting than that! I have to say though that if I had my arm in plaster, for example, I would understand someone asking how it had happened - somehow that doesn't seem so intrusive although I accept that might be a tad
What makes disabled people second class is being treated differently when it's not appropriate or relevant

Loopy - there is a huge difference between being in plaster and having a disabilty

We will know we're near to regarding people as (potential) equals when the colour of someone's skin is irrelevant except for purely descriptive reasons, just as describing someone's hair as dark or fair is not taken as insulting now.

Read the book "Small Island". Read about lodging houses after the war with notices in the windows - No coloureds. No dogs.

You could regard having a leg in plaster as a temporary disability. I certainly would.

We're past that, jings. Are you saying Cumberbatch was deliberately being offensive?

Have you even read the Cohen article?

The incident I am referring to took place in the early 70s when coloured had no derogatory taint.

Well, I'm not past that. I skim read your article. I am amazed that Gransnetters can see nothing wrong with calling black people "coloured".

Cumberbatch was obviously raised in a world where white people thought themselves a little above the "hoy-palloy" (sp) of all kinds.

I think he showed himself up to be a supercilious prick. Which I have always suspected him of being.

*GranntTwice You should not feel insulted, because I would not dream of insulting you.

I should have put it as "If no-one mentions a disability . . ." because some people avert their eyes rather than look a disabled person in the eye. If something is never openly mentioned, it becomes a secret and a secret can become something to be ashamed of and therefore hidden, which takes it round in a circle.

I know that there ARE people who feel lessened because of their disability - I have had a PM conversation with someone in exactly that situation.

But it is not a thing to fall out about. Peace.

I suggest you read it more deeply than skimming, jings. I understood him to be speaking up for people against whom he feels there is, possibly unconscious, prejudice, in the industry he works in. No question of superiority.

What expression should he have used? <trying to keep up with ever-changing trends>

* Riverwalk's* question 'where have you been?' is a very interesting one and very pertinent to this issue.

i do think some people who have not worked in certain jobs, environments, been out in the world much, read certain books, etc. may well have missed out on an understanding of what is acceotable and what isn't. This isn't a reflection on them as such, it's more a case of 'you don't know what it is you don't know'.

Certainly since I retired I rely on my children, TV, radio, reading and even GN more and more to keep me up to date with certain issues. This thread has raised an issue that some people were unaware of. Well that's progress.

Why not 'black actors', like everyone else in this country now?

"Nick Cohen
Journalist
Nick Cohen is an English journalist, author and political commentator. He is a columnist for The Observer, a blogger for The Spectator and TV critic for Standpoint magazine. He has written for the London Evening Standard and the New Statesman."

Wow!

Oh! And he's got one book. Pretty straight guys. Sounds riveting.

That's right, jings, attack the person not the issue. Way to go

Do you mean attacking you or him? (need to know to carry on with this thrilling argument )

It wasn't just 'no coloureds, no dogs' on the boarding house windows. My parents came over from Ireland after the war and according to them, the signs read 'no coloureds, no Irish, no dogs'.

Elegran - you present two options - averting a disabled person's eyes or asking personal questions about their disability. I am suggesting a third way ( and the right way) - treat a disabled person as anyone else when engaging in general chat. i know there are people who feel lessened because of their disability - but for me that only would happen if I were treated differently because of it ( when not appropriate or relevant). Anyway, no point in continuing this discussion - I won't shift from my position that it is totally wrong for someone I dont know, or have just met, to ask me about my disability.

Rod Liddle's take.

I meant you attacking Cohen, jings, as if that had anything to do with it.

Sorry, he not...

oh, never mind.