What's his arm got to do with anything?
- 19 May 04, 12:00 AM
Over the past couple of days, the news headlines have been dominated by the reports of how the police thwarted what they believe would have been , from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.
But now the tabloid papers are concentrating on another aspect of the story. To put it in the immortal words of The Sun newspaper: . Yes, it appears that the leader of the eight man armed gang (no pun intended there, really) - and the only person to escape from the police - lost the use of an arm some years ago after a motorbike accident. The Sun reported, in almost juicy detail, that: "his withered limb was tucked into a pocket".
What this adds to an understanding of the story is anyone's guess, but it sells newspapers, doesn't it? Personally, Crippled Monkey is looking forward to the inevitable Crimewatch reconstruction, to see if a genuinely disabled actor is cast in the role of the criminal mastermind. What do you reckon?
However, there are wider implications to this story. It's not the first time that The Sun has used dodgy language to describe disabled people in the news. In January 2003, as reported by Ouch, the newspaper's front page reported on Muslim cleric Abu Hamza with the screaming headline "Sling your hook!", and needlessly laboured the point by describing his "hook hand and anarling mouth". Then in December the same year, Frank Bruno's mental health problems were sensationally labelled with "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up". With Bruno being such a popular national figure, a public outcry followed on that occasion, and The Sun toned down their coverage - even sending its health editor on a mental health training course.
But this latest story suggests that The Sun hasn't learned its lessons, and that they still think it's OK to use terms that even DJ Christian O'Connell - no stranger to near-the-knuckle comments himself - described as "disablist" on his breakfast show this morning.
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