My Personal Reaction To Liz Kendall’s Comments

I may be late writing this as I saw the news late. Many bloggers and campaigners have already published personal reactions and responses. However I would like to join many of my friends and fellow disability campaigners who are expressing deep dislike of Liz Kendall’s comments yesterday on disabled people. Disabled people ARE ordinary people. We ARE human. To suggest otherwise in such strong language almost describes us as ‘freaks,’ or even as subhumans. It takes everything we’ve fought for five hundred years backwards.

We don’t want to go back to the days of ‘freak shows.’

I’ve spent thirty years trying hard to prove to the world that I AM an ordinary person, that I AM human, that I AM NOT a ‘freak.’

I fought to study in ‘ordinary’ schools, I fought to work in an ‘ordinary’ workplace. Many others fought for much ‘smaller’ rights to do ‘ordinary’ things safely.

My community has fought at every turn. Every generation of children born disabled has improved life in some way for generations to come. Generations of parent carers fought to give their children ‘ordinary’ lives. The current generation of disabled adults fights every day  to improve life for the disabled children of today and tomorrow.

We did all this, we continue to do all this, because we know that we, and/or our children, ARE ordinary people. We know that we, and/or our children, ARE human. We know that we, and/or our children, ARE NOT the ‘freaks’ that we used to be considered by society.

Readers, many of you may be thinking that I am overreacting. Many of you may be thinking that Liz Kendall simply had a ‘slip of the tongue’ and that she should be forgiven.

Readers, if Liz Kendall was not an MP, I might have forgiven her for a ‘slip of the tongue.’ If Liz Kendall was not in a position of power and authority, I might have forgiven her for a ‘slip of the tongue.’ If Liz Kendall was not currently attempting to become leader of the Labour Party, and potentially a future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I might have forgiven her for a ‘slip of the tongue.’

As things are, readers, I cannot forgive her comments.

There are few things I hate more than people who are in the public eye revealing outdated, offensive opinions in public places. Last time I checked, the BBC News Channel was a very public place.

I join the calls for Liz Kendall to apologise for these comments as soon as possible, preferably live on the BBC News Channel, exactly where she made them in the first place.