Being a massive Doctor Who fan, I was really looking forward to the 60th Anniversary specials. The Star Beast on Saturday night did not disappoint. David Tennant and Catherine Tate were always a favourite of mine, and they had lost none of their chemistry. Rose Noble is a great new addition to the series, and Beep the Meep was a brilliant villain, a nice example of what would happen if a Furby turned evil. Nice to see UNIT back as well.
But…
But, of course, there has been the vocal minority that has been complaining that it was too ‘woke’. Oh no, there’s a transgender character! Who’s black! And there was a few lines of dialogue about pronouns! And being Non Binary was mentioned *clutches pearls*! Now, I may be part of the LGBTQ+ community, as I am neither trans or non binary people those I won’t speak over them, but offer my support.
However, I am disabled. And I am about to be very vocal about the other ‘woke’ complaint made. Namely about Shirley Anne Bingham, the UNIT Scientific Advisor who happens to be in a wheelchair. And she is played by an actual disabled actress, Ruth Madeley.
She disabled! The Horror!
First off, note her job title “Scientific Advisor”. Now I don’t claim to be an expert, but I am fairly sure not having the use of your legs doesn’t stop your brain from working. And from personal experience, I know someone who works for the Royal Navy as a scientific advisor to do with their nuclear submarines. They have a PhD, but you know what they don’t have? Two legs. Now I am sure they don’t have a gun hidden in their prosthetic, unlike Shirley’s surprisingly well armed wheelchair, but I don’t specifically know they don’t…. (oh shit, I’m using a gender neutral pronoun, it must be spreading!!). So it’s no stretch of the imagination that a disabled person could be attached to UNIT. I am a little put out they haven’t managed to reverse engineer whatever it is that allows Daleks to float upstairs though.
On to the main point
Second of all, and this is the real point I am trying to make… WE EXIST. Disabled people may have been hidden or kept away from the spotlight in the past as some kind of dirty, pitiful secret, but this is 2023. Our existence isn’t “woke”, it IS. And let me tell you about my existence. I have a husband I love very much and a daughter that is nearly 5 years old that I do the school run with and play Fall Guys (badly) with. I have a job five days a week. I prepare food. I go to the supermarket and do our weekly shop. I go to the cinema and to concerts. I play Dungeons and Dragons with friends. I have tattoos and piercings. I enjoy reading, computer games and sci fi movies.
I AM JUST LIKE YOU. The only difference being I can’t walk very far and sometimes use a wheelchair. I may need an accessible parking space, I use a perching stool in the kitchen, and work may have gotten me a different desk chair to make my working life comfier, but I live my life just like everyone else. OK, there are some things I can’t do any more, like caving and working behind a bar, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.
All in All
Lets face it, the ‘default’ setting on mainstream TV is still “White, Straight, Conventionally Attractive and Able”. Representation on TV isn’t taking anything away from people who fit into that category. But it means everything to those who don’t. A disabled person who isn’t treated like an object of pity? I nearly cried. Because if Shirley can be a Scientific Advisor, can be seen as an actual, capable PERSON, then maybe, maybe, so can I. And if you think that’s ‘woke’ and unrealistic, and especially if you think it’s offensive, then there is more wrong with you than there will ever be with me.