by Simon StevensSummer is upon us and so it's time for our annual dose of Big Brother. After blind Mikey last year I was looking forward to the producers upping the stakes for the latest series and perhaps putting young people with moderate cerebral palsy and a speech impairment in the house - and I am not hinting at myself. However, the key word in describing housemates this year has been "fit".
Although there was a female housemate with the "C-list" impairment of
lupus, politically this is a step backwards for a programme which has
once again pushed the boundaries of diversity in terms of race, culture
and sexuality. The problem is that this year it is already clear
housemates will face hardships beyond any other year and it is assumed
that significantly impaired people would not cope with this.
While at 35 I do not wish to face the interrogation regime of special forces, in my more youthful days I was up for anything. In 1994 I went to Nigeria in the middle of a civil war to teach at a summer camp which involved facing real hardships without the safety nets that are in place during the making of a "reality" TV programme. I left after two weeks, having suffered a bout of food poisoning and a week in a Lagos hospital. This is just one of many adventures I had which makes Big Brother look tame.
Younger disabled people are more included than I ever was and therefore a selection of them would have the motivation and skills for this tougher version of Big Brother.
So will there ever be a significantly impaired wheelchair user with cerebral palsy on Big Brother? Well, it has already happened. In 2006 I was a housemate in the version of Big Brother on Secondlife, an online virtual world imagined and created by its "residents". This version required 12 housemates from around the world to spend eight hours a day online in the house made of glass walls so we were watched by other users, just like being in a zoo. I walked out after a week but that's another story.
So it's not too late for Channel 4 to redeem itself by putting a disabled person in the Big Brother house but are we too diverse for them?
Simon Stevens is an independent disability trainer and consultant
Read Simon Stevens's personal blog
While at 35 I do not wish to face the interrogation regime of special forces, in my more youthful days I was up for anything. In 1994 I went to Nigeria in the middle of a civil war to teach at a summer camp which involved facing real hardships without the safety nets that are in place during the making of a "reality" TV programme. I left after two weeks, having suffered a bout of food poisoning and a week in a Lagos hospital. This is just one of many adventures I had which makes Big Brother look tame.
Younger disabled people are more included than I ever was and therefore a selection of them would have the motivation and skills for this tougher version of Big Brother.
So will there ever be a significantly impaired wheelchair user with cerebral palsy on Big Brother? Well, it has already happened. In 2006 I was a housemate in the version of Big Brother on Secondlife, an online virtual world imagined and created by its "residents". This version required 12 housemates from around the world to spend eight hours a day online in the house made of glass walls so we were watched by other users, just like being in a zoo. I walked out after a week but that's another story.
So it's not too late for Channel 4 to redeem itself by putting a disabled person in the Big Brother house but are we too diverse for them?
Simon Stevens is an independent disability trainer and consultant
Read Simon Stevens's personal blog
Dear Simon, I work as a senior social worker in learning disability. To put it mildly I think all those that are on Big brother are, in my opinion, lost the plot. Making money out of putting people together and seeing them act like a bunch or uncivilised idiots leaves me thinking that this world we live in is going down hill very fast. If we were to put a group of apes etc in the home, they would act more civilised than this lot does. "That's my opinion only". lol
Rev Jack
Similar comment to Rev Jack. I think disabled people have far more sense than to want to take part in this pile of rubbish.
It is quite something to criticise a program for not putting people with disabilities on it, whilst showing a distinct lack of awareness of disability issues.
Firstly, how do you know there was no one on the show with disabilities? What about hidden disabilities?
I am not an avid viewer of the program myself, since I see it as a rather vulgar and exploitative attempt to ridicule people, like a modern day freak show. It is however clear to me that there are a significant number of people who are extremely vulnerable who appear on the program many of whom have mental health difficulties or some cognitive impairement.
I'm not sure why holding anyone up to public ridicule is ever a good thing. In fact I would think it was entirely contrary to social work values.
I do get tired of the cultural snobbery thrown at Big Brother. It has democratised fame, which is no bad thing in my view. I do think those that go on it now do so with their eyes open and the ridicule they receive is basically of their own making. Having been a viewer of Big Brother for ten years I can only think of one instance where a person with a mental health problem has been in the house and he was gone in a week.
I am not sure how it fits with social work values but my experience is that most social workers are very interested in people. Which is a nice way of saying we are insufferable gossips. And Big Brother is about people. Vain, show off, egomaniac, self absorbed people but people all the same.
Why no disabled people ? Maybe nobody good enough with a disability applied. Mikey was on last year and did well and Pete won it a few years ago. But they would have got in regardless of their disability as their personalities were so big.
There are some really interesting comments here and we're going to use a couple for the letters page in the magazine this week - hope that's ok.
This is interesting. My original point was simply if Big Brother is about extreme diversity then why it is not being extreme in terms of disability. The show is indeed a freak show but the reality of many significantly impairment people is they may be seen and treated as freaks in everyday life and therefore the Big Brother experience is nothing new to them. Disabled people have the right to make fools of themselves as anyone else and this is a part of risk taking.
I certainly take your point Simon that it would be interesting if for instance somebody with the level of physical disability that they needed daily carer support went in. I see no reason why this could not happen.
And you are perfectly right. Disabled people have as much right to make nobs of themselves on national telly as anybody else. I think it speaks much about the paternal nature of our society that no TV company is going to allow itself to be open to such criticism. I cannot see our hysterical press stopping to consider the nuances of the arguments.
But I do go back to my original point that the disabled person in question has to be an interesting person.
I should have thought any sensible person of sound mind would not consider even applying!