@emilyfern I wish I could back in time and find my younger self with their single digit age, and give them a good slapping.

I recall when I was in school and the children’s after school television programme Blue Peter had a bloke on called Joey Deacon who had cerebral palsy in an effort to dispel the stigma surrounding people with disabilities.

I didn’t see the episode in question because Blue Peter was boring crap that I had no time for beyond liking the opening music and enjoying the bloopers they showed on ‘It’ll Alright On The Night’ with the animals shitting on the floor.

However, the response to all this was immediately apparent the next time in the playground (at least that is how my memory presents it to me – and we all know how infallible human memory is) with, seemingly all the children imitating how they saw Joey Deacon move, and imitating his way of speaking while the horrible and disgusting word, “Spaz” was thrown around.

So yeah, there’s an extra spot in my time machine if you want to join me go back to 1981 to knock some sense into myself.

Have no fear though, we weren’t just horrible ableists, we were racist and homophobic as well.

I’d like to think this phenomena was limited to my school and my particular time but I have subsequently learned that it was completely normal.

It should not have been.

Joey is long dead but my apology to him stands.

Sorry Joey.