Richard Tice is back talking utter shite about disabled children again. The deputy leader of Reform UK was speaking about SEND reform when he urged that we stop calling children disabled and instead used the term ‘differently abled.’
Tice has previous for talking crap about disabled kids
Not so long ago, the right-wing gob on a stick said that neurodivergent children were ‘over-diagnosed’. He also said that there were so many with a diagnosis that those who don’t have one are feeling left out.
But he couldn’t leave it there; he also felt the need to belittle neurodivergent kids.
He said:
The sight of children in classes wearing ear defenders — I’m sorry, this is just insane. It’s got to stop.
At the time Tice also said that we had to ‘stop labelling people,’ which he is apparently still keen on.
Tice thinks we should be ‘optimistic’
Speaking about Reform’s plans for the SEND system in Westminster, Tice said we had to look more “optimistically” at disability. Mind you, he started by once again talking shite about over-diagnosis:
I have seen the [SEND] system not working, but I’ve also seen over-diagnosis, and I know that upsets some of the big, important charities in this space.
He went on:
We can do better than shout at each other. We can work constructively together, because imagine the optimistic scenario. Imagine that we didn’t call children disabled, but we learnt from other nations where people are called ‘differently abled’.
Just fucking say disabled
The collective “ughhh” from disabled people at that statement was probably enough to cause an earthquake. Because the fact is disabled kids need support. Calling them “differently abled” does fuck all to change that.
All refusing to say disabled does is show that you think being disabled is a bad thing. Disabled is, at the end of the day, an adjective. It’s a neutral word to accurately describe someone who is, well, fucking disabled. We don’t need flowery language like ‘differently abled,’ ‘person of determination’ or ‘diffabled’. I will take ‘dislaybled’ but only ironically.
But let’s be honest, Tice does think disability is a bad thing. Because to openly call yourself disabled means you aren’t ashamed of who you are and you feel guilty about taking support you’re entitled to. Tice wants not only disabled people, but parents to feel like they’re doing something wrong. This way, it’s easier to cut support
He went on to say:
Yes, every young person has ability and talent. We have to find it, nurture it, motivate it, infuse it, and that way, young people are the beneficiaries.
Imagine a system where children don’t have to travel in a taxi every day, 60 to 90 minutes to a specialist school. Imagine having a specialist school in rural areas, two or three villages away. Imagine parents not feeling they have to fight the system, not feeling that they have to engage lawyers.
These are wonderful platitudes, but they do absolutely fuck all to actually support disabled kids. Much like everything that comes out of a Reform member’s mouth, they’re just saying that they think they want people to hear.
Doubling down on hatred disguised by a sob story
It’s also the complete opposite of what he was saying just a few weeks ago. After his outburst about ‘over-diagnosis’, he wrote a sob story rebuttal in the Telegraph. He claimed he’d had death threats over the comments. Despite this, he did not apologise for the remarks.
All I did was repeat publicly what many experts had told me privately, but dare not say themselves
He carried on:
Instead we need to teach young people that life is not perfect, celebrate us all being differently abled and develop some resilience, not reliance on a label.
He also, typically, blamed parents who he is now claiming to want to support:
Multiple experts tell me there is a crisis of overdiagnosis. In some schools, “normal” children jokingly feel left out because they have not been given a label. One expert told me that parents are relying on neurodiverse labels to excuse poor parenting.
Oh and remember him wanting to make it easier for kids to get to school nearer? Yeah it’s fuelled by hate too:
Is it reasonable to demand that a taxi take your child to school? Some parents now appear to be abusing the system.
And just incase you still think Tice’s SEND reforms would actually help disabled kids and their parents:
SEND does not need more money, it needs reform to improve outcomes.
What this basically means is more cuts, doesn’t it?
Call disabled people what you fucking want
At the end of the day, Tice can call disabled people whatever the fuck he wants to try and make his views more palatable. But it’s crystal clear, from his own words, that he hates disabled people and he especially doesn’t give a fuck about disabled kids. And above all else, he’s demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to work in the best interests of disabled children and their parents.
Featured image via the Canary
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