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| TX: 18.11.05 - Spazz in Dorset PRESENTER: JOHN WAITE AND WINIFRED ROBINSON |
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| THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WAITE Back in July you may remember we reported on a newly designed wheelchair, which its American manufacturers had decided to market under the name "Spazz". And they explained it was part of reclaiming a term of abuse, often aimed at people who have a disability. Well that piece provoked a lively discussion at a Bridport disability group called "Lifestyles Dorset", whose members decided to include questions about Spazz - the wheelchair's name - in a questionnaire they carried out in a supermarket. Lindsey Cornwall Jones went to meet some of the members of Lifestyle Dorset. MEMBERS People get called spastic and spazz, it's not nice at all. I don't think it's very [indistinct word] of the language, I think it's an abuse of the word. CORNWALL JONES Susan's just had to just leave the room, why do you think that was? MEMBER Because she's upset about the name being Spazz as a wheelchair because she was called spastic when she was a child and they sometimes still call her it now. SUSAN My name is Susan. I have cerebral [UPSET] - I have cerebral palsy and I have been called a spazz all my life. MEMBER The reason for this survey is people's attitudes are terrible, people stare, they call you names. CORNWALL JONES What sort of responses are you expecting to get? MEMBERS I don't expect much. Well I think a lot of people are just going to walk past. How do you feel when you see a disabled person? What's wrong with them? Is it catching? Poor thing. How would I cope like that? How can I help? SURVEY RESPONSES It doesn't really bother me, I just see how I can help them and both my uncles were in wheelchairs so I know there's not necessarily anything wrong with them, it's just the fact that they can't walk or can't do things as well as other people. I often wonder how I would cope and I sometimes think how can I help. We're not embarrassed by disabled people. We wouldn't automatically think well what is wrong with them. Definitely it's not catching and I wouldn't think poor thing anyway. MEMBER Why might people stare at the disabled person? SURVEY RESPONSES I don't really know why people stare at disabled people, I suppose they do but I don't. What do you think? Possibly because they're curious as to the disability, maybe, I don't know why. Or perhaps because they're grateful that they're not so disabled. I'm not sure, they're probably very inquisitive as to why they're like it. I think people do stare because they're not sure, they're uncertain and they certainly don't know what it's like themselves. MEMBER What do you think disabled people can do? SURVEY RESPONSES As much as they can when they're feeling well enough - that sounds fair enough. You've got to be careful that you don't insult them when they want to be independent. They've got a problem with the post office here in Bridport with steps up into it because it hasn't a disability ramp when it's a Grade I listed or Grade II listen building. They'd love to go in there but they can't, because if they're in a wheelchair they can't get up the steps. MEMBER Do you think it is right to use the name Spazz for a wheelchair? SURVEY RESPONSES I would say not, not politically correct these days is it. A wheelchair's not so bad but if it was calling a person spazz then it's not a very nice thing to say. You only have to look at the word gay and what it meant a hundred years ago compared to now and people just - it's something completely different. Names get changed and people said I'm always going to call it a Marathon bar or I'll never buy Cif I'll always buy Jif. A name like that, yes I think that's a good idea. I think it's a bad name for a wheelchair, I do seriously. There's plenty of names they could call wheelchairs, why call it that particular name? It's bad, goodness gracious. CORNWALL JONES Caroline, were you surprised by the responses that we got from the survey? CAROLINE Yeah I was very surprised, I expected them to want to just walk away and that and one of the people I went to - an older person - and they were really - couldn't believe the name, thought that was absolutely diabolical. And then I thought oh well I go - younger person next time, I thought they're not going to want to know, they're going to want to walk off, you know. But no, they were very - and she said can I write a reason, so I said yeah, go for it. So yeah I was very surprised, very impressed. CORNWALL JONES You doing the survey, people walking into the supermarket will have slightly altered their view about disabled people. MEMBERS Yes I do think they will now. Now because we've done it, you've got to do these things to really show people and I think we've got the confidence to do it. I think they'll think twice now about how they feel about disabled people. ROBINSON Members of the disability group Lifestyle Dorset talking to Lindsey Cornwall Jones. Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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