I woke up on Monday to discover something that made my blood run cold. An article of mine had been discussed on GB News.
The article in question was on the backlash Rosie Jones received in response to her naming her documentary on online abuse aimed at disabled people “Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard?” I’ve used it here for context but I’m sick of seeing it and will not be saying it again.
I wanted to write the article because as a disabled journalist it’s very rare that stories about our community are written by us. It was also the only one of the slew that followed that included the nuances around why the language is so offensive and didn’t focus on the disabilities of those involved. This is something only those with lived experience can understand the importance of.
Despite many contributors who were originally involved with the show pointing out how harmful to disabled people the word is - something that’s been used to not only belittle us but delegitimise us as people - Rosie and the producers instead chose not to change the name.
But this column isn’t about Rosie, and I would hate for people to think I’m attacking her. I, alongside many others, am just trying to hold her and the producers accountable.
They surely need to realise from the pushback just how many people this is going to negatively affect and that a couple of people’s opinions shouted overrule most of a community.
And the name has already been changed - it didn’t originally have the asterisk in the word until contributors pushed back. So it can be changed again.
The r-word should never be used anymore but it sadly still is. I regularly get called it and have had it thrown at me in response to this. So by still using it, they ignored people who expressed their fears that this would harm disabled people and give bigots even more license to use it.
So back to GB News.
The story appeared in their papers review ‘Headliners’ and was met with disdain from Paul Cox who used the r-word without any hesitation and then for good measure added “This is mental!”
The panellists went on to joke that he had to apologise for using the word and host Leo Kearse said: “If anybody’s offended at Paul using that word, for context he’s reporting on a newspaper article where that word is used.”
To clarify it’s not. I never used the word, I used it with the asterisk as it appears in the title and then “the r-word” from thereon. However, this was the contributors' and many activists’ fear - whilst the word can be asterisked in print, it can’t be when it’s spoken, meaning it will be used when the show is discussed by people who have no hesitation when using it.
This was exemplified by the third commentator Lewis Schaffer who, when Cox said that Rosie was reclaiming the word, replied: “She is not reclaiming the word because she is not… the r-word, she is the s- another word I can’t say either.”
From the panel's reaction this was a much worse word.
This proves why this documentary should be renamed. The reasoning is that it’s highlighting the abusive language, but these people already feel okay using these words. Seeing someone with a huge platform, using it even to point out how horrific it is, isn’t going to change their minds.
It’s going to legitimise their usage.
A big part of the argument around the backlash is that this is taking up many newspaper inches where other stories about disabled people wouldn’t.
And I understand that, as a disabled freelance journalist it’s always been tough to get stories commissioned that talk about disabled issues.
But the way we talk about disabled people all feeds into the way society, the government and the media treat us.
Wider issues such as the benefits system, inaccessible housing and how we’re disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis and Covid, are all being allowed to happen because of attitudes towards disabled people.
However, the documentary hasn’t aired yet, so there is still time to rename it. This is the ultimate goal here - not to censor anyone, but to highlight the real-life repercussions this word and language around disability has, in the hope the producers will do the right thing.
