Feedback | 28 June 2003

Comment on Crippling burden by Rod Liddle (21/06/2003)

Your tawdry article on those of us who are disabled adequately shows us that you are indeed genuinely disabled – by blindness to the facts, arrogance, facetiousness and selective deafness amongst others. You chastise us for almost daring to claim what is the birthright of every citizen: to be judged on what can do, rather than what we cannot. Do you want us to remain objects of pity when we could be taking a full part in society? Is it only for the non-disabled “elite” to claim life’s rich pickings? It isn’t as if we want anything special – just the means to be able to compete on equal terms. Is our money disabled, too? Is it not of sufficient value that premises shouldn’t install ramps etc – all with Government money, I might add? I challenge you to live in a wheelchair for a week, going about your daily business, and see how you cope with not only physical, but attitudinal barriers to your participation in mainstream society. But then again, you wouldn’t, because you have other physical conditions preventing you from rising to the challenge – absence of spine and guts.
Chris Page

I have always been a bit of a fan of Rod Liddle’s but feel that this article is offensive, misleading and horribly one-sided.

Having said this, I did agree with quite a few of the points made in the article