I would be a very poor blogger indeed if I didn’t write an entry about what happened in the world of TV this week, given that we had at least two highly controversial disability-related TV programmes. First, as I’m sure many readers will probably know, there was a Panorama programme on the disgusting treatment of people with learning disabilities in care homes. I’m sure I hardly need to record how appalled I was when I saw this: Lyn and I watched it two nights ago on iplayer, and we were both aghast. I think I was most struck by the fact that the people carrying out the abuse seemed to be treating it as a game, and that the residents were theirs to toy with. I sincerely hope those responsible – both those who carried out the abuse and those who allowed such a situation to come about – are now in jail. What gets me even more, though, is when I come on line I see people actually sticking up for the abusers, referring to the residents as ‘retards’ and thinking it’s somehow big, intelligent or clever to justify this appalling behaviour. But then, such people are surely ere trolls whose opinions count for nothing and deserve only to be ignored.

The second programme which caught my eye was on channel four last night, about the so-called elephant man. I only caught the end of it, but they seemed to be trying to recreate his physical deformities. I was struck by the question ‘why’? Why would we want to resurrect this individual, if not just to stare at him? Was he not stared at enough when he was alive? In other words, are such programmes not just a continuation of the nineteenth century freak-show, wrapped up in a thin veil of science? I suppose the guy is dead now, so such programmes can’t hurt him, but surely we have grown out of this childish voyeurism; surely we have grown out of abusing anyone seen as different? And if not, isn’t it time we did so?