Disability discrimination

Cerrie Burnell has been accused of scaring kids with her one-armed body. What an argument! Is it her fault that she was born with just one arm? Do her critics regard her feelings when they accuse her?

I think it is a form of exposure for the kids, to know that there are such unfortunate people who do not let their disabilities hinder their desires to live life. I do not think her critics have any justification in their arguments. The father who was worried that his daughter may get nightmares is paranoid, I feel. His daughter is merely learning about the reality out there, and even if she does not see it now, she will see it sooner or later. I think parents like him should have used the opportunity to field her queries and to teach her to sympathise with Cerrie. Two years old is the age when children start learning about things around them.

I agree with some viewers who applaud her for her courage. She is really using her own disability to show that it does not make her any different from the other hosts on the programme. I am also heartened that BBC does not discriminate her as a result. Indeed, as she says, these parents are just frightened of her lack of features but as parents, they should be mature enough to deny their fears in order to educate their children on her disability. They can even confess that they are afraid of the sight, but that requires humility and courage. I'm proud of her for choosing to see good in the controversy surrounding her and for seeing the importance of being a good role model. She willingly accepts her difference from others too, to the extent that she would not change it even if she had the chance to. She is actually a better role model than these parents, if I may say so!

It is so sad to note that disabled parts go to able-bodied actors instead in stage productions. Society should be made more aware of the fact that disabled actors are just as good at acting and hosting than able-bodied ones. Even the programme controller advocates her warm and natural characteristics as the criteria for having employed her. Why can't these parents look beyond her disability, at her beauty within? Sir Bert Massie hit the nail on its head when he labelled the parents as "ignorant and prejudiced" and expressed that they lack responsibility in making their children the scapegoats for their biases. It is bad enough that they do not want to educate their children on what is natural. What kind of parents are they?