Offensively Named Documentary Might Harm the Very Community It Was Supposed To Help

If you know about British comedian Rosie Jones, you probably also know about the endless deluge of ableism she gets on a regular basis. Jones has cerebral palsy and she’s on TV, so that automatically makes her a target. Sometimes she gives her fans and Twitter followers a glimpse of the abuse, and it’s appalling. The one example that sticks in my mind the most is one she was sent after playing a pregnant woman on the show Casualty (the troll seemingly not aware that Jones was acting and not actually pregnant).

I remember having the R word thrown at me many times at high school—whether it was autism or ADHD or both, there was clearly something wrong with me—so seeing someone write to Jones, “Oh god that baby is going to come out r*****ed just like it’s mom good lord who would screw you,” makes me flinch. We can assume from Jones’s response that this isn’t remotely the first time she’s been sent the slur, either. So it’s surprising to many people, then, that Jones has chosen to use the word herself in the title of an upcoming Channel 4 documentary. It’s called, “Rosie Jones: Am I a R*****?”

You can see what Jones is attempting to do here. She’s trying to confront people with the impact of the use of the word. In a Twitter video posted June 30, she said,

“The title of the film has a very shocking word in it, the R word. And I get it, a lot of people will find this word very shocking and upsetting. But, in my opinion, society doesn’t take this word and other ableist forms of language as seriously as any other form of abuse from any other minorities.

So, I said to Channel 4: ‘Let’s do it, let’s tackle the problem head on and use that word in the title and then, hopefully, people will think twice about using the word and other ableist slurs ever again’.”

Jones is right that the R word isn’t always taken seriously as a slur. It wasn’t back when I was in high school, and it feels like it’s taken a very long time for the internet to recognize it for what it is, as well. It took me a long while to get comfortable posting on Reddit because even left-leaning subreddits didn’t seem to give a damn about the harm the word caused. Only a few years ago it was common to see Donald Trump referred to as “r*****ed” by people who furiously condemned his policies against the most marginalized people, but seemingly didn’t consider that language also plays a part in oppression.

Some contributors have left the project

The trouble is that not every disabled person feels that using the word like this has the same value Jones sees in it. This has led activists Shelby Lynch, Kate Stanforth, and Lucy Dawson to leave the “Am I a R*****?” project, and Lynch explained why via Instagram:

“The last few months have been very emotionally draining for me and two of my other amazing disabled friends. As some of you may know we were asked to take part in a documentary about Ableism and Online Trolling with a well known disabled comedian.

Talking about ableism on mainstream TV its obviously something that needs to be discussed but the way it’s happened isn’t something that I can support and all three of us spoke out against them.

We were told a few months ago that the documentary was going to include a slur that is used against disabled people and I was heartbroken. I didn’t want anything to do with the documentary unless the name was changed and we went backwards and forwards for what feels like forever.

I cried so many tears over this situation as I was terrified that I would let the disabled community down and nothing would hurt me more.

I try and make my platforms such a safe space for my community and I always talk about what type of language should and shouldn’t be used. So to be included in the documentary with the title as it is made me so angry and upset!

I don’t know what I would do without the friends I made and my disabled followers and the thought of making their lives more difficult is just something that I would never ever get behind.

Ultimately it was decided that the three of us would be removed from the documentary instead of the name being changed. I really hope you understand that we did all we could to change the title but unfortunately we weren’t listened to. Again thank you so much to people that have reached out and I am truly sorry.”

Jones responded to these statements via a July 4 interview with The Guardian, saying,

“I understand that there are some people who are unhappy with the title. The production company and the channel had many, many discussions about it. I’m not attempting to speak for the entire disabled community in any way. This film is about my experience as a person with a physical disability [and a] word that’s still used extremely frequently, and thrown towards me in the street or on social media. This title is not used to shock. It’s about education and starting the conversation about how damaging the casual use of ableist language is. I’m taking back control of a word that’s been thrown at me as a weapon all of my life.”

Meanwhile, the response to the title on Twitter seems to have been overwhelmingly negative, with many people pointing out that the R word has been thrown at other people, too, not just Jones. The charity MENCAP, which works with people with learning difficulties, has also expressed concern.

And as pointed out in the below tweet, non-disabled internet troll Graham Linehan has already gleefully used the slur on Twitter when “joking” about the documentary. The idea that it could embolden terrible people to be even more terrible concerns me, especially since this is taking place on a platform that has little to no moderation anymore.

What the consequences might—but hopefully won’t—be

The actual documentary isn’t due to come out until mid-July. Whether it says anything to truly justify the title remains to be seen, but before it arrives on screens, I want to bring up an episode that, despite the best intentions of the TV producers involved, fills me with anger and shame every time I think about it.

In 1981, an author with cerebral palsy, Joey Deacon, appeared on the children’s show Blue Peter as an example of a disabled person who’d achieved a lot in life. But, without any sort of framework around to teach kids about systemic ableism, “Joey” became a playground insult meaning “stupid,” and it was used to belittle and dehumanize. And I honestly don’t think we in Britain have evolved enough as a society to keep a similar thing from happening again.

(featured image: Rosie Jones/Channel 4)