Thanks guys,

For all the response concerning the first 2007 issue of the CP Review. It’s great to see that we have an interactive readership. We decided to reproduce the much discussed article “an opinion” so it would reach the widest audience possible. Further comments are most welcome. A thought provoking response by Maurice Toon follows the article. (Immanuel Koks' opinion has been added to the debate at the end of Maurice's article (6th May 07))

Hands up all the people who are sick of inappropriate, more often then not, emotive words describing disabled people in the media.

He/she “suffers from Cerebral Palsy” is a classic example.

Now I don’t know about you guys but I never suffered from Cerebral Palsy in my life. In fact the only suffering I encounter is from hangovers. And those my friends are self inflicted.

These cringe creating words have been floating about for some time. I never forget the time when this guy did an article on me for one of the Sunday papers. It was a reasonably well written tale about my involvement with the Otahuhu Rugby club, until the sub-editors intervened.

The article’s headline screamed “Cripple is one of the boys.”

Well I wasn’t a happy chappie when those words slapped my face.

In fact to pinch one of my work colleague’s favourite sayings.

“It fair ripped my nightie. I can tell ya.”

Not that I wear a nightie but you know where I’m coming from.

Thankfully these words and images of suffering cripples are gradually fading away. In my youth I was quite unique cruising down the main street of my home town in my motorised wheelchair. Now mobility scooters and wheelchairs are common place. People with disabilities are increasingly accepted into mainstream society.

However these negative images still linger especially in the media. In my opinion we must stamp this out. Write and tell us about your experiences in the media. Together we can demand to be portrayed in a far more positive way.

Ross Flood

In reply to the article “An opinion” in the March 2007
Cerebral Palsy Society of NZ Review.

A Rose by any other name is still a Rose! However this is something that the disabled community has not been able to come to terms with. Over the decades we have
changed our minds about what to call ourselves. We have gone from cripple and invalid, to physically handicap, from disabled people to differently able and now we have people with disabilities. How can we ask to be referred to in an appropriate manner when we cannot agree about what is appropriate?or so long the words “Cripple”, “Handicap” or “Cerebral Palsy People” have been accompanied with words like suffer or wheelchair bound, to paint a more miss-understood picture of us. And yet no one has asked, why do the “non-disabled” people see us like this?

It is time for us to start to accept ourselves for who we really are. We are “Cripples” and we do “suffer” because of our disabilities. We don’t make as much money, we take longer to do things, and we struggle to be accepted in the non-disabled world.
It is only by acknowledging that things are harder for us, can we truly start to make real change.

Some of us are even willing to lose our identity to fit into a non-disabled world. We try so hard to make the image of people with disabilities as non-disabled as possible.

Over the last few years, there has been a move to call Boccia players athletes, to create an image that Boccia is a real sport and the people who play it are no different then other people who play any other sport. If the image of a word like “Athlete” can be changed to include a group of people who not long ago were seen as “Handicap people”, then should we not be able to change the image of words like “Cripple” to mean something else. For if we don’t, words like “Cripple and Handicap” will always be there to be used to paint a negative picture of people with disabilities. But by using these words , by changing
the image these words create, then they can no longer be use to degrade us.

Just because a flower is called a Rose doesn’t make it so, and it is the same with cripples. Am I less independent or less of a person just because I’m called or I call myself a cripple? For too long we cripples have being trying to get the non-disabled to see us in
a different light. We have tried to get other people to make the change without us making the change ourselves.

Instead of letting people tell us what cripple means, let us show them what being a cripple is all about.

People would have us believe that if we somehow change the label the world would some how be a better place for cripples, NOT TRUE!! The only way to make change is for cripples to go out there and make our lives mean something. This way the words like “Cripple” or “Handicap” becomes something to have pride in. To be a cripple is to take what you have, take what you can do, build on it and make your life mean something. While doing all this, we continue to work around our impairments. To control our lives in this positive way who would not be proud to be a Cripple?

Maurice Toon

More Opinions to the debate from Immanuel Koks

It is with interest that I read the article “an Opinion” by Ross Flood as well as Maurice Toon’s response. I think both authors have a point, but both miss a more fundamental point. Ross makes a good point that labels placed on disabled people in terms of suffering usually drive a wedge between those who identify as disabled and those who don’t. Maurice makes a good point that the reality is that we do suffer, life is harder and sometimes, I know, I long for a different body. But at other times I am very grateful for my body. I agree I am not true to myself if I do not admit to the mixed up way life is for me.

The point missed by Ross and Maurice, is that no human has a perfect life, we all suffer to one degree or another, and yet we all have good times as well. Western media feeds me the lie that life is only good when it is without pain. But if I am honest with myself, my life is a whole lot richer because I have dealt with suffering and have grown through learning to deal with the issue that caused it. I am not saying pain is good, but I am saying growth that can occur because of it, is good.
So perhaps when someone says you suffer from CP. We could say, “yes, I wish I could do … (fill in the blank) but I also enjoy life in my body at other times. What is it that helps you enjoy life but makes you suffer at other times?” Maybe we could dare to ask: “How can we share our experiences of both good times and bad to help each other grow?” But that means intimacy and sharing life with others. Guess what, that too can be incredibly enriching as well as incredibly painful, both at the same time.
Owning our suffering need not divide us from other humans, in fact, both the good times and the bad should unite us to them in solidarity.

Immanuel Koks.

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