La Vie En Rosie

Nothing about us without us is the battle cry of the disability rights community in the UK; although this is being acutely tested by a new poster child of disability activism, the comedian, author and actor Rosie Jones.

Rosie’s current tour is called Triple Threat; an irreverent nod to the fact that she is female, gay and disabled. Rosie incorporates her cerebral palsy and sexuality into her unique brand of comedy, which has seen her career take off. This didn’t just happen overnight, but slowly and surely, despite the ableism, sexism and homophobia she has had to endure throughout her life, her talent has allowed her to cross over from the margins of the disabled community into mainstream populist culture.?

This has given her a powerful platform, made even more powerful by a public service broadcaster, Channel 4, who encourages unique talent and is willing to help amplify the voices of under-represented communities.

Rosie has used this platform to try to understand how prevalent disability trolling is in the UK, and why it is often left completely unchecked by social media companies. She also wants the majority of the UK population who aren’t disabled to be made aware of the term ableism, to help stop the daily abuse of disabled people and a call to action to all of us to stand up to ableism when we see or hear it.?

But in her own combative style, she has called the film ‘Am I a R*tard’, which has caused a great deal of discomfort within the disabled community and led to some of the original contributors in the film withdrawing their support. Ironically turning to social media to tell us.?

I think of the disabled community and social media as some kind of Stockholm Syndrome. On the one hand social media capturing large swathes of the disabled community on their platforms, whilst allowing daily unchecked abuse, hatred and trolling to be thrown at them. Yet despite this, disabled people gravitate towards social media to feel less isolated or to find a much needed community. Social media companies should be held responsible for not only removing illegal content, but removing so-called ‘legal but harmful’ content.?

In my view, this is not about Rosie reclaiming a derogatory slur or reminding us of an offensive word we might have forgotten about. She is deliberately using a hurtful and dehumanising term, which is not illegal to say, yet is still allowed to be used without recourse. In true Rosie style, this is full metal jacket confrontation to take everybody outside of their comfort zones with a single-minded aim to shock and shame us to be better. This is called activism.

“The 1980s and 1990s were a thrilling time in terms of disability activism and saw so much change, but I think over the past couple of decades we’ve lost momentum.” This was said by the original disabled female stand-up comedy artist, Barbara Lisicki, recently featured in a brilliant BBC docudrama ‘Then Barbara Met Alan’.?

Barbara and her partner, Alan Holdsworth, were at the forefront of disability activism in the 90’s and coined the slogan ‘Piss on Pity’. Barbara’s view was that "If you make a disabled person an object of charity, you're not going to see them as your equal." So, they deliberately chose a combative, uncomfortable and offensive phrase to challenge and shame mainstream behaviours to drive social change.

In the same vein, Rosie’s documentary title confronts the uncomfortable truth that if you make a disabled person an object of derision or abuse, you are never going to see them as your equal either.

Rosie's most treasured possession is a framed original 'Piss on Pity' t-shirt that was given to her by Barbara.

But Rosie’s documentary is more than a slogan. Airing on Channel 4 at 10pm on Thursday 20th July 2023, I am sure the subject matter and quality of the filming will eclipse the title. But up until this point, the column inches, TV and radio that Rosie has commanded in the mainstream media about her cause has been something that most campaigners and politicians can only dream about. This is her power and why she should be celebrated by all corners of the disability community.

Of course, it is important to understand and respect that people with intellectual disabilities find this term deeply offensive and hurtful. We should also recognise this vibrant and wonderful community bare the brunt of this horrible insult. Nobody who cares about disability inclusion and equality wants to hear this word, let alone give it oxygen on a high profile media platform. But absolutely nothing is changing and the gratuitous abuse of all disabled people is getting worse. It has to stop.

When talking about equality for disabled people, Lisicki said: “It’ll never be over and won, not in my lifetime and probably not in my child’s lifetime either. Hope is vital, and the fight goes on.”

Rosie is giving us hope and taking up the fight. Despite the title of the documentary, her actions are very forward thinking.