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From: Leys Geddes, British Stammering Association
Date: 10 Oct 2007
Time: 11:42:57 -0500
Remote Name: 81.129.167.75
I was asked this question in one of my BBC Radio interviews. I replied that it was probably OK to tell jokes about a disability if you suffered from it. But, if you didn't, it would probably be seen as offensive. It's a bit like telling black or Jewish jokes when you are not black or Jewish. So, at the BSA Conference last month, there were a lot of jokes about stammering, but they were all told by PWSs. We all have a sense of humour, but I think you can only poke fun at something if you really understand it. Which is why the YouTube Comedy classification is so offensive: the people poking the fun simply don't know what it is like. But why not go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1R8VUASlvA and watch a clip of Jody Fuller, the stuttering comic. Some PWS would find that offensive, simply because it is laughing at stuttering. Personally, I would be pretty tolerant because there is a lot of education for non-PWS in what he does.