ignoramus parents twine on about handless TV presenter

So, apparently Ofcom received 90 complaints from parent's of children who had been subjected to the horror of a C-Beebies presenter who is missing half an arm.

It is fair to say that the BBC like to tick boxes on their 'Inclusive' check list. Eastenders is a tribute to this; when Eastenders tackles one group of 'outsiders' they really go for it. The last couple of years seeing the introduction of various mentally unbalanced characters and 2 physically disabled children. Eastender's problem is that they always start off trying to tackle an issue by making it a non-subject. They seem to come from the same mindset as those who try to avoid accusations of racism by pretending not to notice someone is black.

You can imagine them in a witness stand parroting; 'he was tall...stocky... cant think of anything else to say about him', 'yes Miss Eastender, but was he black or white?', 'I couldn't say... I didn't notice'. This is what destroyed their first attempt at introducing an Asian family and produced the oddity of Ben Mitchell. A hearing child actor who wears a hearing aid in order to play a child who apparently is not actually deaf.

Back to C Beebies presenter Cerrie Burnell. The problem, parents are squealing, is not that they are 'disabledalists' but that this woman's deformity is 'scaring' their children. The problem is that she is leading kids to ask them to many awkward question.

It isn't fear that these parent's are describing, it's ignorance, fear of the unknown and an interest in finding out why she's different. The only way that these problems can be dealt with, for adults as well as children, is for the subject to be raised. If children aren't educated about difference from an early age, if they aren't aware that yes, some people are missing parts of their bodies, then they could end up age 40 and writing whiney letters to the BBC about their kids being scared by the Seven Dwarves.

What is needed is for disability to fully enter public discourse. I often joke that the only acceptable discrimination left is against gingers but this isn't true, as it seems that political correctness falls short for many different types of people. Yes, people are scared, people fear becoming disabled them selves, they fear their own mortality, and disabled people can for some be a reminder of this. But that is ignorance. In some cases it could be said that ignorant people should be left to their own stupidity. But for the disabled there are many obstacles to living normal lives even without the attitude barrier. It is important that people are taught to respect the disabled and their needs in order to construct a more inclusive society. Disabled rights policies are not suitably upheld. It seems at the moment for every 'reasonable adjustment' there is a 'reasonable excuse'.

'This new presenter is c*** - face facts - but because she has a disability then she was given a job. [It is] positive discrimination in my books.'

So? In this case I think, so what if it is positive discrimination or box checking that for the presenter the job. It is necessary for disabled people to appear on television, especcially kids TV, as this is the best way of initiating public and private debate.

There must be thousands of disabled people out there who could be as worthy of TV work as the 'normal' presenters, and if this one lady helps to make this a possibility, and can be a role model to disabled would-be stars who may fear that they would be rejected by the media on their physical, then the BBC should be given adequate respect for appointing her.

The benefit of these ignorant complaints is that public attention has been well and truly drawn to the situation and hopefully force people to confront the issue.

I think that the time has come to elect Tom Shakespeare as prime minister. The ideas on inclusion which he suggests in his book Help and his BBC Blog are superb.