by Geoff Adams-Spink BBC News Online disability affairs reporter

Martinez - one of the new breed of disabled performers

In the first of a two-part BBC Radio 4 series, producer Turan Ali tackles the thorny subject of laughing at disability.

Should We Be Laughing? is presented by disabled comedienne, Francesca Martinez.

The programmes look at why disabled people have, for centuries, been the butt of jokes and how disabled comedians are now fighting back.

"I was genuinely shocked at the depth and scale of 'disablist' humour," Ali told BBC News Online.

"That's why I decided to make these programmes."

The first, broadcast on Tuesday, contains several examples of celebrities having a laugh at the expense of disabled people.

Author Will Self tells Johnny Vaughan about a game he plays with his children called "child or dwarf".

We're the last bastion of shock Mat Fraser, actor

While driving along, the Selfs apparently speculate as to whether any small person they see is a child or someone of restricted growth.

If there is any dispute, Self's 12-year-old son has to get out of the car to check.

Meanwhile the chat show audience can be heard laughing heartily.

"We're the last bastion of shock," said disabled actor and performer Mat Fraser.

"Anyone scrabbling about in the depths of their own mediocrity can get a cheap laugh at our expense: you're different, ha ha ha."

For Fraser the issue is not one of whether the person telling the joke is disabled or not.

"For me, it all depends on whether the 'gagmeister' is coming at it from a position of hatred or friendship."

Alongside the clips of Ronnie Barker mocking speech impediments and Basil Fawlty poking fun at deafness, there is praise for newer comedy like The Office and the League of Gentlemen.

Fernandez as wheelchair user Brenda in The Office

The Office's wheelchair user character, Brenda - played by Julie Fernandez - is used to highlight David Brent's awkwardness around disability.

"We get a steady stream of complaints about people like Jonathan Ross and Frank Skinner," said Nuala Calvi, a journalist on monthly magazine Disability Now.

The widest possible range of voices, people and characters should be seen on our screens Jana Bennett, BBC director of television

"And whenever David Blunkett is mentioned on Have I Got News for You his blindness is made fun of - it's what you'd expect from a bunch of five-year-old children."

But there is evidence that broadcasters are starting to take disability more seriously.

Last week the BBC announced targets for showing disability on screen that will see at least one regular disabled character in a returning drama series on BBC One by the end of this year.

And 2% of the extras in BBC One dramas will be disabled by the same time.

"We recognise that the widest possible range of voices, people and characters should be seen on our screens," said Jana Bennett, the BBC's director of television.

"Disabled people need to be shown less as minorities with issues and problems, and more as people with lives as rich or as complex as the rest of society."

For producer Turan Ali, it is only a matter of time before humour at disabled people's expense will be as taboo as laughing at someone's skin colour.

"It must change sooner rather than later because disabled people are really making themselves heard," he said.

"And the new comedy by up and coming disabled performers is so powerful and provocative that it will be difficult to resist."