http://www.epilepsynse.org.uk/pages/whatsnew/epilepsyweek/index.cfm

As for your mother, sorry that does sound unreasonable. But there's a little bit of turn abouts fair play. No one claims to get these things exactly right, and for your mother to have to use a different term isn't exactly an awful hardship. n.b. who actually told her, and how enforceable a decision was it?

As for the pc brigade, who are they? (sounds like a particularly dangerous brigade of the army). Aaron I've helped people with epilepsy as part of a range of conditions. It depress's me that I've had to consider advising people to lie on risk applications, and job applications, as one mention of the e word, or mental illness or what ever. And you'll have hard time joining a swimming pool, getting a job, or even doing yoga.

n.b. It was only about 30 years ago epilepsy could bar you from wide range of job.

As for the thing on jobs. Supposing it was every one, all of the time. Which it has been for a lot of people.

If I seem PC, it's because I work with people with mental health issue, epileptic symptoms, and learning disabilities. Not so long about 20 years ago, their fate was to be locked up for life in hospitals, that would make our worst prisons look preferable. Lives wasted in misery, and suffering. It's the so called PC brigade, the Disability Discrimination Act, and Care in the Community (most of which started under Thatcher go figure), that knocked the doors down.

Aaron their are people to day, who walk the streets, hold down jobs, and have as good, and free a life as any one. Thanks to what you would consider PC. It's so sad to reduce it down to a huff over using a different word for Brainstorm. PC only reflects the politics of the time, in Nazi Germany philo-semitism was unPC.

I'd have to look this up on the net, but I thought PC came from the extreme left (maybe pre WW2), who came up with it as something to use in order to damage and de-stabilise capitalist society. Apparently that was the original idea behind it.

Joel, why do you take pretty much my whole argument, ignore it, and try to turn the discussion into something we do agree on? I've already said that the equal rights stuff is a good thing, and is welcomed. So why bring it up again as if I've attacked it? That, in my mind, is nothing to do with political correctness. That's equality. The political correctness I'm talking about and enraged by is the banning of words. It's the sad stigma attached to totally innocent activities and phrases because they might be of offence to someone. (And no, I don't remember who told her that. Might have been on a teacher training day.) Just like with brainstorm, my mum has been told that she shouldn't mention pigs in the classroom, because it could offend Muslims. It's not all tabloid scare-mongering. Yes they talk it up, but it's real, and I still say it's far more dangerous and damaging in the long term than anything the Nazis wanted to do.

P.S. Epilepsy still bans you from a wide range of jobs. Thank f**k for that, I say, 'cause there's no way I'd survive the food in the military if we got into another proper war and had to reintroduce conscription.

Originally 1793 US, was used in Mao's red book, shot my self in the foot there !

Hmm looking back over the posts, I wander if we're arguing the same thing from different sides of the table.

The big things were great Equal Ops, Race discrimination, but there is sometimes a cultural minutiae approach that can be maddening. Can also be used as a cover, went to conference on Learning Disability issues recently. A lot of service providers, now call their big expensive day cent res old fashioned close them (saving 1000s), provide a wonderful service for tiny number of clients, and claim they want to do the same for all their clients (and never do).

I suspect it is similar in school, and I don't know many parents of kids with Autism, who don't curse the closing of specialist schools, and switching to untrained class room assistants.

It's a balancing act, and one has to be careful to neither throw the baby out with the bath water, nor keep so much bath water you drown the baby.

Quote: Aaron @ March 2, 2008, 11:20 AM

Joel, why do you take pretty much my whole argument, ignore it, and try to turn the discussion into something we do agree on? I've already said that the equal rights stuff is a good thing, and is welcomed. So why bring it up again as if I've attacked it? That, in my mind, is nothing to do with political correctness. That's equality. The political correctness I'm talking about and enraged by is the banning of words. It's the sad stigma attached to totally innocent activities and phrases because they might be of offence to someone. (And no, I don't remember who told her that. Might have been on a teacher training day.) Just like with brainstorm, my mum has been told that she shouldn't mention pigs in the classroom, because it could offend Muslims. It's not all tabloid scare-mongering. Yes they talk it up, but it's real, and I still say it's far more dangerous and damaging in the long term than anything the Nazis wanted to do.

P.S. Epilepsy still bans you from a wide range of jobs. Thank f**k for that, I say, 'cause there's no way I'd survive the food in the military if we got into another proper war and had to reintroduce conscription.

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You have the condition? As for pigs, that a cultural hang up, and one that causes real harm. I do think more aggressive out reach is not always a bad thing. It's worth noting that it was lefty immigrant charities that pushed for compulsory english lessons, and food vouchers for asylum seekers. To break the hold of often times abusive fathers in patriarchal families, refugee families.

Taking Shapes

If only I could change the world,

I’d make it square for a start.

Design the trees with oblong leaves

and flowers in the shape of a heart.

The sun would be a diamond and

the moon a cupid’s bow, shooting

stars at the chevron hills and the

zigzag lakes below.

Pyramids of mountains too, would

add to this angled place, whilst the

sea could be striped or even checked,

filling in any empty space.

Nothing would be circular on this

newly chiselled ground.

But I’ve no plans to ring the changes,

while love makes the world go round.

Quote: sootyj @ March 2, 2008, 11:29 AM

You have the condition?

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Yep:

Quote: Aaron @ March 2, 2008, 10:28 AM

Actually, yes, I am an epo...

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Quote: sootyj @ March 2, 2008, 11:29 AM

It's worth noting that it was lefty immigrant charities that pushed for compulsory english lessons

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If only that was happening. Instead we get hundreds of thousands of pounds of our own taxes spent on translating every single little last local government communiqué (right down to something as mundane as notification of the different rubbish collections over Christmas) into a dozen languages. For major things then of course that's not unreasonable. But something so relatively tiny as that is just stupid. There's no incentive to learning English in some areas. What a sorry situation it is.

bushbaby: I like.

I suppose like so many issues it's more complex.

Fine example remember that documentary on Bernard Manning, and that grumpy black guy who had a go at him.

He taught me standup, and was ceaselessly racist to Black students, in a way he would have condemned old Bernard for (and neither of them liked it).

Certainly I gave up on advocacy when I realised it was mainly about getting opinions, so you could acknowledge they'd been got, and the ignore them. Nearly got a job in a long stay hospital as a professional advocate. Said hospital had one of the worst absue scandals in NHS history, that with a 6 figure advocacy project that didn't do a dicky bird.

One could feel the ultimate aim for some, would be black suspects can be beaten, provided it's by a black officer. I suppose I some times feel that the more balanced, fairer community we live in is a relatively recent thing, and could all be lost so easily.

Just discovered this old Drifter advert from '92 - anyone remember this? What do you think? Racist? I dunno.

I still say "Yo, skin little blood!" occasionally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQwe_c8yY8Y

Quote: Perry Nium @ March 2, 2008, 12:34 PM

Just discovered this old Drifter advert from '92 - anyone remember this? What do you think? Racist? I dunno.

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Not on any level racist that I can see!

Quote: Charley @ March 2, 2008, 12:08 AM

BTW.
I just wanted to add, that not a single woman on here has EVER pulled any member

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*unzips flies*

Quote: bushbaby @ March 2, 2008, 12:31 AM

xmas 2006, charity shops were stopped from having christmas decorations, there were none in any of the shops round here

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Who stopped them?

Quote: sootyj @ March 2, 2008, 12:39 AM

Where do you people live? Is there some weird anitEnglish antiChristian ghetto I haven't heard of.

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Quote: Aaron @ March 2, 2008, 2:13 AM

Great - and real - example of political correctness ("gone mad?!?!$!!!111!") that I've just remembered:

We're not allowed to use the term "brainstorm" anymore. It's a "thought web" or a "mind map" or some other such bollocks. "Brainstorm" is offensive to epileptics. Y'know, 'cos of the seizures and everything.

Except they're not epileptics. We can't use the term "epileptic" because it is degrading to epileptics, and de-humanises them to be associated only by their condition, not themselves. An epileptic is now "a person who suffers from epilepsy".

F**k. Right. Off.

Grr.

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Careful Aaron you may work your self up into a fit

Quote: Aaron @ March 2, 2008, 9:38 AM

You can't just not talk about or mention something, particularly a disease, because someone finds it offensive. (And make no mistake about it, there will ALWAYS be someone who can find offence in whatever you say.)

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Black people love it when i point out they are black. As do single mothers and fundamentalist muslims

Quote: Aaron @ March 2, 2008, 9:58 AM

But why should we be so protectionist? I don't like French culture. Doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, just because I don't like it.

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Why? The French haven't even heard of PC... interesting *opens big book of Freud*

Quote: sootyj @ March 2, 2008, 12:39 AM

Where do you people live? Is there some weird anitEnglish antiChristian ghetto I haven't heard of.

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It's called Slough.

xmas 2006, charity shops were stopped from having christmas decorations, there were none in any of the shops round here

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Who stopped them?#####

Who knows? I'm just a little, white, indigenous person classed as a nonentity these days and accused of racism each time I try to speak up for little, white. indigenous people. We're not allowed a voice you know? We're old fashioned I guess mainly because liberal youngsters absolutely don't know any other than the overcrowded, naff country we've become as opposed to before

Quote: ajp29 @ March 2, 2008, 2:33 PM

Careful Aaron you may work your self up into a fit

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Boom boom!

I think we are all in danger o paying attention to the yappy chiuaha of supposed PC barking at us, and ignoring the Rotweiller of comercialism biting our arse. In a predominantly atheist country, it just makes good comercial sense to up a commercial winterval style festival. millions on tranlsation are way cheaper than 10 s of millions on proper language education. Xmas is still there, the Gods have changed not to Allah of Khali, but to debt and guilt. That's not a lefty PC thing, it's a money PC thing.

My cousin and two of my friends have epilepsy and that's what we all call it.
For example: "why doesn't Dave drive"? and I would reply "because he's epileptic". That's probably the most common reason why I say it. I do wish there was a short form though it's quite the mouth full to say. Try saying it 10 times fast. Bet you can't!