PARENTS are complaining over this?

A

Ally

New member
i don't know if this has been asked but was wondering how people felt?

Parents complain that disabled TV presenter is 'scaring children'
DOZENS of parents have complained to the BBC that a disabled television presenter is scaring their children.

Cerrie Burnell, who was born with one arm, and co-presenter Alex Winters took over the popular Do and Discover slot and The Bedtime Hour programme on the CBeebies channel last month.

One father said he would ban his daughter from watching the channel because he thought it would "give her nightmares".

Others said it had prompted difficult conversations with their children

One blogger wrote: "Is it just me or does anyone else think the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability?" Another parent who wrote to the message board said: "What is scary is the BBC's determination to show 'minorities' on CBeebies at every available opportunity."

Miss Burnell, who has a four-month-old daughter, said she was upset at the "small-minded" and "terrible" comments.


Controller of CBeebies - “It's a big ask to entertain millions of children every day. Cerrie is warm and natural and we think that in time all mums and dads and children will love her as much as we do”.

personally i think it is a disgrace, they must lead VERY sheltered lives, if the children are scared they should sit them down & explain to them that it's not a bad thing, we are all different & some more different than others, but nooo, they can't be bothered to do that they would rather waste time & money phoning these officials to complain!!!
i am glad they didn't give Cerrie the sack as it must be very difficuilt for her as it is with these small minded ignorant people wanting to hide disabled people away! i'm sorry but it's 2009 & it's time to deal with it

oh & if you ask me she is very pretty & one arm is nothing these days (or what i mean is there are far more severely disabled children out there)
i say good luck to her & all the best for the future i hope she becomes something so more people with disabilities feel it's ok to get out there & show the world what their about!
 
Yes, this was discussed briefly here. It is a horrible sitation when people only see a person's disability and cannot see the whole person. Disability rarely scares children any where near as much as parents fear. Children are quite accepting if their parents are accepting and often even if they are not.
 
If it's on the BBC then (like so many other things in the UK) the government has it hands on it. I'm sure if you contact the BBC they'll make a note of your complaint, but don't expect immediate results. I thought political correctness had gotten out of hand in the states, but we've got nothing on Britain when it comes to that.
 
That is exactly why we keep raising generation after generation of mean spirited bigots. If we were to expose children from the start to people with disabilities and have those difficult conversations they would grow up with more compassion and a better understanding.
 
people are a.s.s.e.s.pure and simple. The way people are so blantently ignorant and stupid never ceases to amaze me. A case in point. My old man many years ago saw a commercial of kids dancing to music. one girl was in a wheelchair and was getting her groove on the best she could. I am ashamed to say, the man said "why would she want to listen to music and dance" ?

He used to make fun of how I walked and talked, and the man never has after 68 years of life come to understand anything but his own little world.

My wife is building her own computer at Bosma, which is a blind persons schooling and developmental services service. my wife is blind, and the teacher who instructs the students is blind. The man is the co- head of the organizations entire IT team. His co-manager is blind as well. Over the past year, they have instructed 30 + students in building their own computer. The students put in the motherboard, power pack, chip, and all peripherals including cd/dvd memory, ect. .

Heaven forbid we all don't conform to looking "normal". When I see your post, I realize just how far the world needs to go until we fully get out of the mindset that different means imperfect, and flawed, therefore beneath contempt.
 
I think its not that the kids know what there seeing but really things like that scare little kids. Think about you as a kid seeing something with no arms is pretty shocking. As you grow up some you get used to it and understand it more they just need to be educated on why these people are the way they are.
 
That is too bad that parents are reacting that way. Television, in my opinion, is a great medium for exposing children to people and concepts they may not otherwise encounter. "Linda," the deaf character on Sesame Street, prompted me to learn basic sign language as a child.
 
That is too bad that parents are reacting that way. Television, in my opinion, is a great medium for exposing children to people and concepts they may not otherwise encounter. "Linda," the deaf character on Sesame Street, prompted me to learn basic sign language as a child.
 
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