Monday February 26, 02:25 PM
By WENN
Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills' forthcoming appearance on US TV show Dancing With The Stars has angered a disabled group in her native Britain, who claim her ability to dance means she is able-bodied. Full story here.
I will admit that I'm on Heather's side when it comes to the whole McCartney/Mills thing. She seems like a perfectly nice lady to me and Paul McCartney never quite pushed my button after his late wife Linda packaged salt and fat together and marketed it as "healthy" vegetarian dining.
That's why I think these claims by The Federation of Disabled People are just petty and vindictive. They claim that her appearances on an American "Come Dancing" show prove that she's not disabled. How could they even think of saying such a thing? She's only got one leg!
The Federation of Disabled People is doing itself NO favours here. Here's an organisation that's supposed to be claiming that anything abled bodied people can do, disabled people can do too - and then they decide to shoot their potential poster child in the prosthetic foot!
Heather only has one foot. That's a fact. What's also a fact is that she's overcome her disability and now has frankly remarkable agility. She should be a role model for the Federation. Instead, they're so disgustingly petty they claim she's 'not disabled enough.'
Are the Federation for Disabled People claiming that a missing limb is no longer a 'disability?' They must be, since that's the only way they could justify their absurd comments.
But by that logic, if Heather Mills can overcome her problems, why can't every disabled person missing a limb? If the Federation really believe that Heather should give back her disabled badge, surely they're suggesting that every other amputee does as well?
What the Federation for Disabled People doesn't seem to realise (and they bloody well should) is that disabled people can be just as able as the rest of us.
I'm supposed to be able bodied, right? Well I'll tell you what. I couldn't get up tomorrow and run the London Marathon - and a few months ago I met a young lady with Cerebral Palsy who did just that. Here was a woman who was supposed to be disabled - and had problems with her speech and mobility - yet she could run 26 miles in a matter of hours.
She was disabled - yet able to do something I couldn't.
Given the attitude of the Federation for Disabled People towards Heather Mills, I'm surprised they didn't gun after this young woman as well. I mean, she could run a marathon. She can't be disabled, can she?
The fact is, disabilities are obstacles, not barriers. Heather Mills and my marathon lady were both presented with obstacles and they overcame them. It seems this proactive attitude offends the Federation for Disabled People and I can't quite understand why.
Is it just a petty attack aimed at McCartney's ex wife? Or is it symptomatic of that curiously British snobbery - that derides anybody who rises above diversity and achieves success?
Whatever the reason, I think it's a very disappointing display by the Federation.
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