Just a bit of 'armless fun?

[Scotty Mac]

Television - News - Disabled BBC presenter 'scaring' children - Digital Spy

A disabled BBC presenter has become the victim of a campaign after parents suggested that she may scare children.

Worried parents claim that Cerrie Burnell - who was born with one arm - should not front CBeebies shows.

The decision to hire her has prompted a series of complaints to the BBC from angry parents. One father said that he wants to ban his daughter from watching the channel because he fears she may 'suffer nightmares'.

Another parent wrote: "Is it just me, or does anyone else think the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability?"

Burnell and co-presenter Alex Winters stepped in as hosts of The Bedtime Hour and Discover and Do last month.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Is this how politcally correct this country has become? Surely it would be better to encourage young children to have a healthy opinion of people born with abnormalities?

 

[Simon Morgan]

Really unfair on the one-armed woman, but the fact is, as a kid, I would have been SHIT scared of seeing a one-armed woman on television. Surely its the kind of thing kids will see when they're going about their daily life with their parents? Either way, it is incredibly harsh on the woman in question, but I do understand how her physical appearance might scare kids.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

I don't understand, where's the problem? Just make sure they explain she was born without that arm, and she's like everyone else in the world, but she only has one arm. It is actually quite healthy in my opinion.

It might scare the kids who won't have seen that sort of thing before, but in the longer term, it's much better for them to embrace people with abnormalities in a healthy way. All the parents would need to do is talk to the kid, which is surely the point of parents? To guide the children through life, they need to learn to be tolerant of people not like themselves, and this is such an easy opportunity to start doing that.

 

[Jesus Gul]

common sense should prevail...she could always do porn for the adults instead

 

[beardy gull]

Shouldn't we be more concerned that her co-presenter is WELSH?

 

[Mendoza]

Is this how politcally correct this country has become? Surely it would be better to encourage young children to have a healthy opinion of people born with abnormalities?

you have to POINT the FINGER of blame somewhere for these kids getting scared

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Why do you? Kids are kids, everything scares them, it's natural curiosity.
(I've chosen to ignore the possibility you are making some kind of crude joke about a one armed woman...)

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

This is reminiscent of parents complaining the monsters in Dr Who were too scary and giving the kids nightmares back in the 1960's.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

This is reminiscent of parents complaining the monsters in Dr Who were too scary and giving the kids nightmares back in the 1960's.

To be fair, the giant maggots episode did geniunely scare the crap out of me when I saw it, aged about 7! That was in the 90s though.

 

[algie]

Why are the parents up in arms about this?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

To be fair, the giant maggots episode did geniunely scare the crap out of me when I saw it, aged about 7! That was in the 90s though.

My son , Robert , nearly shit himself when I let him watch Aliens with me when he was 7.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

And he's stronger for the experience now, whether he knows it or not!

Imo, you need to let kids be scared in a controlled environment as much as you can, it'll teach them that something might scare them on the screen, but it's not reality, they can change the channel and they're no longer scared. Ok, I admit to being very interested in human psychology and I've read alot of research involving testing the psychology of children. I have an A level in psychology, so I'm bound to take an interest in matters such as this thread. A bit of fear is actually healthy, you don't want kids to become too sheltered, it's very unhealthy.

That said, don't ever show them the clockwork orange...

 

[Mackenzie]

My children arn't bothered by Cerrie's disability, I'm sure most children arn't either....perhaps by letting children know about disabled people, it may make them more able to cope with it when they see it in 'real' life (not on the telly). I watched her when she started a few weeks ago (I was waiting for Higgledy Piggledy house, well Sarah-Jane anyway) and I was a bit shocked to be honest, but since I've thought about it I think it was a good idea to employ her.

 

[Gritt23]

Nothing to do with political correctness, my 7 year old can't watch when she comes on. It's as simple as that.

We wouldn't ever have so little in our lives as to complain, but I'm not a bit surprised that some people have. Can't help thinking that she got the job out of some positive discrimination in the first place.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Would the same people complain if a child with a similar disability joined the school of their kids?

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Yes, Barrel of Fun, I would say almost deffinitely it wouldn't be complained about. "We don't want that child in our class, they're scaring my child". Which is daft and will encourage discrimination by their own child, and the last thing any abnormal children at school is for the other kids to get more fuel to torment them! I know, believe me.

 

[Mackenzie]

Would the same people complain if a child with a similar disability joined the school of their kids?

Interesting question....I hope they wouldn't.

 

[Marshy]

My 6 year old and 2 year olds never even mentioned it until i did.
Then they just said some people are disabled and some arent.

There are always disabled and handicapped kids/adults on cbbc anyway i dont know what the fuss is about.
Shes good at it let her get on with it, bad parenting if there kids are scared of her in my opinion

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I must have been about 8 when I shared a dinner table with a boy who was severely handicapped. He had been starved of Oxygen at birth and was entirely incoherent and could not do anything for himself.

I was scared at the time, but it was explained to me what was wrong with him, how some people are born or develop disabilities and that I shouldn't be scared of the 'abnormal'. The experience did not scar me in the slightest.

Those that complained should be ashamed of themselves. If they are not willing to teach their children about acceptance of disabilities, then they should bloody well watch a different channel rather than make a ill-conceived public complaint.