Short of sending in blank columns to be published in newspapers such as UNN, it is becoming very difficult to know what to write these days without offending someone. The latest nonsense off the production line of political correctness is the pronouncement by the disability charity Leonard Cheshire that the terms ‘blind’ and able-bodied’ are now to be considered offensive and, therefore, should no longer be used. Who decides this stuff? By whom will their use be deemed offensive? What will the penalties be? Perhaps by writing this, I will soon find out.
It is especially interesting that the memo does not appear to have reached the charity RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and when Mike Graham announced this on talkRADIO there was an immediate call from a woman describing herself as ‘blind’ on the basis that she could no longer see. Last time I checked this was the definition of being ‘blind’. I am a healthcare professional, and we have long been used to distinguishing between the ‘visually impaired’ and the ‘unsighted’ in order to have a precise understanding of individual problems with vision. But nobody pretends that the ‘unsighted’ are not ‘blind’. Including the unsighted.
Already ridiculous, these efforts at ‘newspeak’ could soon become sublime. Are there, for example, any limits to the contexts within which the term ‘blind’ can be used. Are those testing new medicines destined to conduct ‘double-visually-impaired randomised controlled trials’ instead of double-blind ones? If we can’t see round a corner on the road, is this to be renamed a ‘visually impaired corner’ as opposed to a blind corner? And will ‘The Boss’ (aka Bruce Springsteen), already the North American grandfather of woke, have to sing about being ‘Visually Impaired By The Light’ instead of Blinded By The Light? Nothing would surprise me.
I wonder what the man—Leonard Cheshire—who established the charity that carries his name and was married to Sue Ryder, who established another charity, be thinking? Group Captain Cheshire was a brave and distinguished Royal Air Force officer. He was a British observer aboard the military plane the Enola Gay which dropped the first atomic bomb on the poor souls in Hiroshima. I can’t really imagine such a man being too fussed about the finer points of terminology (“oops, I hope nobody down there was visually impaired; that was a hell of an explosion!”). While I have never ascertained if he was seeking repentance, he did later convert to Roman Catholicism and dedicated his life and skills to caring for the terminally ill.
Then we have the use of the term ‘able-bodied’. What is to become of AB ratings in the Royal Navy? While they tend now to be referred to as ‘able seamen’, ‘able’ refers to their full status, achieved after two years of service, as able-bodied seaman. I wonder what Winston Churchill would have thought. I paraphrase him but I imagine he might say something along the lines of: ‘there goes the Royal Navy again; it’s all rum, bum, the lash and political correctness.’
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
