A dating show, a reality TV show, or a victorian freakshow.
This programme due for broadcast by C4 in April has generated the type of pre launch controversy which Publicists delight in.
Not all non-disabled people run a mile from potential disabled partners. I've dated disabled people before now. Diagnosed and undiagnosed and it's an issue which will generate much debate, which can only be a good thing, so to me it isn't an issue. However this is not the case for everyone.
We are more naturally drawn to people with whom we have a demonstrable affinity and ignorance is a huge barrier to understanding the things we have in common as opposed to the things which separate us.; this coupled with the fact that disabled people are prevented from participating in many of the social norms and according to a Scope survey many people don't even know someone with a disability, it strengthens the barriers that disabled people have in forming any social networks let alone romantic relationships.
I have two major problems with the notion of the show and I participated in the briefest of brief debates this week on Radio 5 live which given the subject was disability seemed about right. The conversation was dominated by a representative of one of the dating agencies who has been instrumental in finding partners for the participants. This has resulted in 2 out of 9 potential relationships.
We live in an age of perfection and the issue of hate crime targeting disabled people is on the rise. We are encouraged by advertisers not to age, not to get fat and certainly not to be "different". If advertisers wanted to disprove my perception then they could begin routinely including disabled people in their adverts for supermarkets, furniture, banks holidays etc etc etc. Disabled people do feature in life just not in advertising land.
Politicians love disabled people for PR enhancing photo op's as they display their compassion credentials replete with concerned faces on one hand then vote for the hateful policies which disenfrancise disabled people with the other hand.
It's in this perfectionist culture that C4 decided to launch a series of billboards for The Undateables with pictures of six of the participants and the the tagline "love is blind, disfigured autistic".
It's deliberately provocative and offensive and it's rationale is that it spark debate. Yes probably but it will also draw the mocking bigots to the show and just because it's professing higher motives it's not necessarily a guarantee that they will be realised. If a poster had appeared the length and breadth of the country featuring disabled children and with the title "The Unloveables" I'd have felt the same way.
Once again it feels as though disabled adults are perceived to be justifiable targets.
Not everyone who sees the billboards will watch the show- whether we are promised the themes will be explored and deconstructed or not. For some people the ad campaign is just a bloody good laugh and I'm sure some great ammunition for verbal abuse on the streets at work and in schools. But in the ratings war what's a little collateral damage eh? Especially when you don't know anyone from the targeted groups personally to look in the eye and justify your motives.
I asked my daughter Lizzy who is on the Autistic spectrum what she felt about the ad and whether she would have participated. She said no when I asked why she said "Because I don't want to be laughed at. They will highlight the bad not the good, because for them it's better telly".
Should the subject of disability and dating be addressed? Yes of course but as a stand alone show. No. Include disabled people in all programming not as a niche addition or 'specialist" programme.
Inclusion of disabled people in everything is the aim of all of my campaigning but the fact is the misery porn aspect of the poster and the platform seam running through so many reality TV shows and documentary shows about disability is what concerns me. Just include disabled people in everything. Not in niche programmes because then it stands out as box ticking exercises not inclusion.
The poster is disappointing because it's sets people up for the very thing which will draw the eye. As surely as the participants were happy to be involved, the advertising brainstorming session seem to have resulted in a campaign framed upon a prurient peek through the observation hatches of victorian institutions. Why call it The Undateables otherwise. Until disabled people are commissioning and making these shows rather than just participating, with no editorial control, it will continue.
I hope this show will be as warm funny uplifting and thought provoking as the programme makers assure us it will be. I hope too that the vast majority will not be watching to laugh but to learn something however given human nature of perceived difference this ambition seems less likely. Especially when favoured sons of C4 comedy like Frankie Boyle get the thumbs up for cruely ridiculing as a staple.
It's sad too that the advertising underpins a wider perception that TV just can't "do" disability without it routinely being dreaded. I can certainly only remember a tiny number of shows which have turned patronising, discriminatory reprentations on their head and made uplifting watchable programming for people who understand as well as those who don't.
Also broadcasters please lose the "with a difference" strap line. It's dull. If you feel you have to warn people of the approaching inclusion of disabled people then you really should be asking yourselves why.
This programme due for broadcast by C4 in April has generated the type of pre launch controversy which Publicists delight in.
Not all non-disabled people run a mile from potential disabled partners. I've dated disabled people before now. Diagnosed and undiagnosed and it's an issue which will generate much debate, which can only be a good thing, so to me it isn't an issue. However this is not the case for everyone.
We are more naturally drawn to people with whom we have a demonstrable affinity and ignorance is a huge barrier to understanding the things we have in common as opposed to the things which separate us.; this coupled with the fact that disabled people are prevented from participating in many of the social norms and according to a Scope survey many people don't even know someone with a disability, it strengthens the barriers that disabled people have in forming any social networks let alone romantic relationships.
I have two major problems with the notion of the show and I participated in the briefest of brief debates this week on Radio 5 live which given the subject was disability seemed about right. The conversation was dominated by a representative of one of the dating agencies who has been instrumental in finding partners for the participants. This has resulted in 2 out of 9 potential relationships.
We live in an age of perfection and the issue of hate crime targeting disabled people is on the rise. We are encouraged by advertisers not to age, not to get fat and certainly not to be "different". If advertisers wanted to disprove my perception then they could begin routinely including disabled people in their adverts for supermarkets, furniture, banks holidays etc etc etc. Disabled people do feature in life just not in advertising land.
Politicians love disabled people for PR enhancing photo op's as they display their compassion credentials replete with concerned faces on one hand then vote for the hateful policies which disenfrancise disabled people with the other hand.
It's in this perfectionist culture that C4 decided to launch a series of billboards for The Undateables with pictures of six of the participants and the the tagline "love is blind, disfigured autistic".
It's deliberately provocative and offensive and it's rationale is that it spark debate. Yes probably but it will also draw the mocking bigots to the show and just because it's professing higher motives it's not necessarily a guarantee that they will be realised. If a poster had appeared the length and breadth of the country featuring disabled children and with the title "The Unloveables" I'd have felt the same way.
Once again it feels as though disabled adults are perceived to be justifiable targets.
Not everyone who sees the billboards will watch the show- whether we are promised the themes will be explored and deconstructed or not. For some people the ad campaign is just a bloody good laugh and I'm sure some great ammunition for verbal abuse on the streets at work and in schools. But in the ratings war what's a little collateral damage eh? Especially when you don't know anyone from the targeted groups personally to look in the eye and justify your motives.
I asked my daughter Lizzy who is on the Autistic spectrum what she felt about the ad and whether she would have participated. She said no when I asked why she said "Because I don't want to be laughed at. They will highlight the bad not the good, because for them it's better telly".
Should the subject of disability and dating be addressed? Yes of course but as a stand alone show. No. Include disabled people in all programming not as a niche addition or 'specialist" programme.
Inclusion of disabled people in everything is the aim of all of my campaigning but the fact is the misery porn aspect of the poster and the platform seam running through so many reality TV shows and documentary shows about disability is what concerns me. Just include disabled people in everything. Not in niche programmes because then it stands out as box ticking exercises not inclusion.
The poster is disappointing because it's sets people up for the very thing which will draw the eye. As surely as the participants were happy to be involved, the advertising brainstorming session seem to have resulted in a campaign framed upon a prurient peek through the observation hatches of victorian institutions. Why call it The Undateables otherwise. Until disabled people are commissioning and making these shows rather than just participating, with no editorial control, it will continue.
I hope this show will be as warm funny uplifting and thought provoking as the programme makers assure us it will be. I hope too that the vast majority will not be watching to laugh but to learn something however given human nature of perceived difference this ambition seems less likely. Especially when favoured sons of C4 comedy like Frankie Boyle get the thumbs up for cruely ridiculing as a staple.
It's sad too that the advertising underpins a wider perception that TV just can't "do" disability without it routinely being dreaded. I can certainly only remember a tiny number of shows which have turned patronising, discriminatory reprentations on their head and made uplifting watchable programming for people who understand as well as those who don't.
Also broadcasters please lose the "with a difference" strap line. It's dull. If you feel you have to warn people of the approaching inclusion of disabled people then you really should be asking yourselves why.