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BBC drama depicting disabled people as benefit scroungers
Cher_Scope
Community Team Posts: 2,494 Disability Gamechanger
Earlier this week I posted about a series called 'CripTales' appearing on BBC 4.
This collection of spoken monologues starred an array of disabled actors, with each programme honing in on a subject of importance to the disabled community.Despite the expectation that this was a positive move that could only improve awareness of disability issues, the airing of Liz Carr's 'Real Deal' monologue was met with widespread unease as it appeared to depict PIP claimants as fraudulent in motive.
What was the episode about?
The BBC website gives us this overview of the episode:Meg is looking out of her window trying to catch sight of a man whom she thinks has committed benefits fraud. She is compiling details about him in order to shop him for his scam. But, unexpectedly, he forges a friendship with her, and encourages her to claim more benefits for herself.
A dark and witty tale about a woman caught in the benefits system.
A dark and witty tale about a woman caught in the benefits system.
In-particular, disabled groups have contested the plot twist that sees Liz's character, Meg, convinced to exaggerate her impairment symptoms to be eligible for a higher rate PIP. For instance, Meg purposefully doesn't sleep the night before to look more fatigued in-front of assessors.
How have people reacted?
The episode was widely condemned by disabled people, campaigners and allies alike as it reproduced the harmful narrative that disabled groups are disingenuous, fakers and undeserving of financial help; an inaccurate understanding that risks undoing many years of work to progress equality.One disabled activist, Andy Mitchell told the Disability News Service:
"The problem with PIP is PIP, not scroungers. It feeds into Tory ‘genuine disabled’ rhetoric that has caused untold harm for disabled people. It was a missed opportunity to tell a really important story that too many people go through on their own.”
How have the shows producers reacted?
Speaking to the Disability News Service, the show's producers defended the episode and explained:"the episode intended to explore “moral ambiguity”, offer[ed] a critique of DWP policy and the “impenetrable” PIP assessment system, and provides a “rare comedic take on the hypocrisy that can be embedded in that PIP interview system”.
What did you think?
- Did you manage to see the programme in question?
- What was your perception of it?
- Do you think the public outcry is warranted or did you find it a comedy take on the PIP process?
Let me know in the comments below.
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Replies
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A day in the life of a paid carer. A 24 hour day in the life of an unpaid carer. A hidden camera night and day in the life of a 'care' home resident. A fly on the wall of someone already made known to viewers who are shown the true conditions of his life, then shown the forms, the officials, the battles he encounters. A series of built obstacles to someone impaired.
What about a series of false but common public assumptions completely overturned? Now, that could be included in dramas, as is beginning to be done. A character who just happens to have this or that non-stereotypical personal situation, but is not making a ' issues storyline' out of it. ( There have been a surprising number of wheelchair using fictional detectives, but the costume drama series Harlots has the obese worker and the elderly one and the restricted growth one as among the most popular employees, which I guess is equality of a sort)
As you say, just to show the reality of disabled life would be equally as interesting and an opportunity to dismantle damaging myths.
To give credit where it's due, the BBC One did recently show a programme called the 'Disability Paradox' that focused on one 'real life' aspect of being disabled; whether it's truly possible to be happy if you are a disabled person. But, playing devil's advocate, in some ways this hyped up the disability as tragedy trope and overlooked the matters impacting disabled groups here and now (and contributing to unhappiness)- employment, welfare, access to social care. If anyone saw it, I'd be interested to hear what you thought.
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