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PiscesDisabled Children's Show Host Criticized by Parents
CNN: A children's show host who was born with one hand is facing criticism from parents over her disability.
BBC spokeswoman Katya Mira said the corporation has received at least 25 "official" complaints recently about Cerrie Burnell, new host of two shows on the BBC-run CBeebies television network, which is aimed at children younger than 6.
The official complaints do not count the dozens of negative comments lodged in Internet chat rooms, Mira said.
In one chat room, a father lamented that Burnell being on the show forced him to have conversations with his child about disabilities.
However, there have also been messages of support for Burnell. What do you think about the complaints?
"We have also received 99 appreciations of her," Mira said.
Burnell started as a presenter of the shows in late January after acting with theater companies in Manchester, England, and Brazil.
A BBC news release in January introducing Burnell made no mention of her disability, but a publicity photo showed the right sleeve of her sweater pulled up, showing her arm stops just below her elbow.
The issue has spurred a debate in England among newspapers, columnists and bloggers.
Burnell said she has heard the criticism and will not let it bother her.
'It can only be a good thing that parents are using me as a chance to talk disability with their children. It just goes to show how important it is to have positive, disabled role models on CBeebies and television in general," Burnell said.
Michael Carrington, BBC controller of CBeebies, said the company is standing by Burnell.
"Cerrie is warm and natural and we think that, in time, all moms and dads and children will love her as much as we do," Carrington said.
Read more hot stories Moms Are Talking About.
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- 46 Comments
WOW! this confirms that most Brits are very cruel people…shame on those!
i think the parents who are complaining about the missing hand are too f-ing lazy to deal with parenting.
for the host—i think its great what she’s doing…
I think it is AWESOME that they have her and are making parents talk to their kids about disabilities. The sad reality is that there are disabled people in the world and we need to learn to be more tolerable of them. I think changing bad attitudes about disabilities start by what we teach our children.
As the mother of a congenital amputee 5 yr old boy (right arm at elbow), we see this attitude far too often.
I tell them to take your kid and go live in a cave, he probably wouldn’t want to play w/ your overly sensitive kid anyway.
Kathy & Dane (5yr old RAE)
I’ve read about this on other sites … parents are claiming that the host is frightening their children and that sort of nonsense. You know it’s the parents that are uncomfortable with it. I’ve worked with children and I’ve never known a child to be frightened of this sort of thing. They’ll be curious, sure. But frightened? Not a chance. And forget serious discussion. All they have to tell kids is that she was born that way, and that’ll be enough for them.
Honestly. What is wrong with people?
Oh, this is just ridiculous! These are some pretty poor excuses for parents. You’d think they’d use this as an opening for discussing disabilities with their children.
My uncle was severely burned in his early thirties (before I was born) and because I was raised around a man who looked “different,” I never had issues with other kids or adults with disabilities. My parents were always very open about his scarring and such. Now, as an adult, I see so many people who openly gawk at those with disabilities and it really irritates me.
Wow, I am in shock. How sad. I agree these are some pretty poor excuses for parents. I think it is amazing that she is on the show and what an amazing opportunity to teach children a great life lesson about disabilities.
At least these ignorant complaining parents were born with two hands to choose from when changing the t.v. channel.
One would think these parents would rather explain disabilities to their children than to have to explain to them that they have stupid, foolish, ignorant baffoons as parents.
What do they do, never leave the house so disabled people don’t scare their inocent little precious?
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Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.
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Good Post!
Why on earth would anyone be upset about that?? It’s good for our children to see people with disabilities. That’s our world; we’re not all the same. They’ll see disabilities in school and for the rest of their lives. Those people are normal people and should not be treated differently. I think it’s great for our children to have role models, such as someone on a favorite TV show, who do have disabilities!