Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 January 2007 23:01:30
Dear BBC
I was extremely disturbed and upset to see the way in which Richard Hammond's return to this programme, following his accident and serious head injury, was treated. He was asked "Are you mental" and tissues were offered "In case he started dribbling"! I know this is a lighthearted and jokey programme that features blokish behaviour but,even taking this into consideration, I really think this was ill-considered and prejudiced. I am a tutor who works with young people who have suffered head injuries, most frequently from car accidents. As I am sure Richard Hammond is aware, recovery from head injury can often be far from straightforward, leaving problems, with concentration and other subtle learning difficulties, even many years after the accident. Teenagers such as the ones I have worked with have a hard enough time as it is. They can often face insensitive comment making from their peers, particularly if they have visible scarring or other obvious difficulties. They can suffer from low self esteem and a belief that their learning difficulties mean they are "thick" even when that is actually very far from the case. The last thing they need is comments on a programme that will be watched by many of their peers, suggesting that head injury sufferers might be left "mental" or "dribbling". I wonder if Jeremy Clarkson and the others on the team would have been as happy to conduct the welcome in the way that they did if they knew teenagers who were working so hard to achieve to their potential following head injury - in fact perhaps they ought to meet a few! It might also be interesting to see the programme do something to raise funds for a head injuries charity! I am really very angry about this. Blokish behaviour is fine as far as it goes and sometimes very funny, but there are times when people need to remember that they are actually responsible adults and use their intelligence to think about the fairly obvious repercussions of their actions. It would be good to see an apology on the programme itself and something done to make some sort of redress in terms of the way head injury is featured or referred to in the programme!
I'm sorry that it has been so long again since I last posted and this isn't actually what I was intending should be my first post of 2007, but anyway - I've got annoyed and thought I'd like to let you lot know!