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The leg division, Mr Spiggot. You are deficient in it to the tune of one. Your right leg, I like. I like your right leg; it’s a lovely leg for the role. That's what I said when I saw it come in. I said, That’s a lovely leg for the role. I’ve got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is – neither have you. You fall down on your left. Peter Cook, Beyond the Fringe, sketch ‘One Leg Too Few’, audition of one-legged man for role of Tarzan 1964
Stand up, Chuck. Let me see ya. Joe Biden, to Chuck in wheelchair, cited How to Lose the Presidency, History 2017
Technically he isn’t disabled. Just lazy. Derek – The Special, Kev’s mum re Kev’s dad, Channel 4 2014
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them. William Shakespeare, Richard III I i 14
I was jeered in House of Commons – disabled MP. The Times headline 5th February 2011
Provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Americans with Disabilities Act
The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children.
In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest. Bob Marshall, Virginia general assembly, cited newsreader online 22nd February 2010
The prospect Smiler was a manic farmer. Few men I think can have been as unfortunate as he; for on the one hand he was a melancholic with a loathing for mankind, on the other, some paralysis had twisted his mouth into a permanent and radiant smile. So everyone he met, being warmed by his smile, would shout him a happy greeting. And beaming upon them with his sunny face he would curse them all to hell. Laurie Lee, Cider with Rosie
All of this stuff is mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act ... The ADA is bullshit on wheels. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s5e7: Handicapped Parking, Showtime 2007
That’s about one in six Americans. ibid.
Using the law to bludgeon people into being nicer is bullshit. ibid.
Fucking hit me; I’ll hit you back. Murderball, Mark, 2005
The higher you break your neck the less mobility you have. ibid. competitor
Quadriplegics from twelve countries meet to compete in the Wheelchair Rugby World Championship. ibid. caption
After beating six countries 5th-ranked Canada advances to the Finals. ibid.
For the first time Joe will face his former USA teammates. ibid.
USA and Canada will face each other again at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. ibid.
USA 33 Canada 32. ibid. score
Athens 2004 Paralympics: Canada 24 USA 20. ibid.
6th ranked New Zealand won the gold. ibid.
Abominable things these machines. The Elephant Man ***** 1980 starring John Hurt & Anthony Hopkins & Anne Bancroft & John Gielgud & Wendy Hiller & Freddie Jones & Dexter Fletcher & Michael Elphick & Hannah Gordon & Helen Ryan & John Standing & Lesley Dunlop & Phoebe Nicholls & Morgan Sheppard & Kenny Baker et al, director David Lynch, doctor
Life is full of surprises. Consider the fate of this creature’s poor mother. ibid. circus owner
At no time have I met with such a perverted or degraded version of a human being as this man. ibid. doctor’s lecture
Can you imagine the kind of life he must have had? ibid. Gielgud
Am I a good man? Or am I a bad man? ibid. doctor
My name is John Merrick. I am very very pleased to meet you. ibid. John
I am not an animal. I am a human being. ibid.
I am happy every hour of the day. My life is full ’cause I know that I am loved. ibid.
My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically. Stephen Hawking
I can’t disguise myself with a wig and dark glasses – the wheelchair gives me away. Stephen Hawking
No-one can resist the idea of a crippled genius. Stephen Hawking
Try not to associate bodily defect with mental, my good friend, except for a solid reason. Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
One finger, two shoulders and a brain – that’s all I have, Barry. The Bone Collector 1999 starring Denzel Washington & Angelina Jolie & Queen Latifah & Michael Rooker & Mike McGlone & Luis Guzman & Leland Orser & John Benjamin Hickey & Bobby Cannavale & Ed O'Neill et al, director Phillip Noyce
It has been estimated that around ten thousand babies were severely disabled by Thalidomide. Michael Mosley, Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines III: Poison, BBC 2013
Two and a half million people are on disability benefit. It costs us £13 billion a year. Now Channel 4 Dispatches has uncovered evidence that a tough regime of tests is secretly trying to push almost 90% of these claimants off the sick to look for work. Dispatches: Britain on the Sick, Channel 4 2012
The head of the mental health charity MIND stepped down from the official scrutiny panel calling the system inhumane. ibid.
It was Labour who first hired Atos. ibid.
Even losing a whole arm is not considered enough to quality for significant disability points. ibid.
The Atos’ assessors have targets for the number of people taken off benefit. ibid.
These are some of the lowest paid workers in Britain. No-one earns more than £4 a week for up to 27 hours work … There are more than 50,000 men and women in Britain today who are being paid similar wages. They’re all either physically disabled, mentally handicapped, mentally ill or just old. World in Action: Working for a Pittance, ITV 1978
Britain’s day-centre and hospital workshops. ibid.
We meet the families bringing up some of Britain’s most vulnerable children … More babies with serious medical problems do now survive. Are we willing though to give them a decent quality of life? Panorama: Fighting for My Child, BBC 2018
Logan has cerebral palsy and extensive brain damage. He is visually impaired but is thought to be able to see in colours red and blue and enjoy bright lights. He is given drugs via a tube into his stomach up to four times a day. ibid.
Disability discrimination at the heart of the Department for Work & Pensions: the department meant to help disabled people into work has lost more disability discrimination tribunals that any other employer in Britain. And it’s had to pay out almost a million pounds of public money to its own disabled employees. Panorama: The Million Pound Disability Payout, BBC 2020
I campaign to improve the rights of people with disabilities. I want to know why people with a learning disability are more than twice as likely to die from avoidable causes than the rest of the population. And how some hospitals fail to care property for people like me. Panorama: Will the NHS Care for Me? BBC 2022
People with a learning disability are not all the same. ibid.
Billy Monger started racing at the age of 6. By 10 he was British champion. But at the age of 17 everything changed. April 2017: ‘You wake up, your legs aren’t there any more.’ Driven: The Billy Monger Story, BBC 2018
‘I fight to race again.’ ibid.
In London in the 1880s a strange misshapen figure appeared in a small carnival side show. Who was the Elephant man? And what caused his grotesque appearance? In Search of s6e5 … The Elephant Man, 1981