Did Mr Arnold say it with a nasty smirk on his face? Did he laugh afterwards? If not, then it was not a ‘joke’ tasteless or otherwise – it was a simple conversational expression that I am sure blind people encounter all the time, and accept.
It was Richard Arnold, not Frankie Boyle – I think you are looking for offence where none was intended, or taken – especially by Mr Wonder who was not present at the time.
It wasn't a joke!! RA asked the person he was interviewing if SW had seen the musical as SW is covered in the said musical. It was not meant to be offensive or funny.
I had a friend at University who was blind. I would have been very careful to avoid references to sight, etc -- until, that is, he would say hello to me with "ah, nice to see you again!" -- at which point I realised it was silly to worry about it. He was probably more bothered at school when kids would say something like "See you tomorrow then OOOOOH GOD I'm SO SORRY!!"
Let people be offended, or not, on their own behalf.
Most blind people would rather people referred to 'seeing', and everyone knowing what they meant, rather than walking on conversational eggshells and then being mortified when the inevitable gaff occurred.
Richard Arnold? He's the guy who wrote the book on inane forced laughter and utter vacuity in daytime TV.
His story of counselling and rehab after this will be serialised in Hiya magazine in coming weeks.
I work with a blind lady who says "see you tomorrow" at the end of every day, it's never dawned on me until now that this could be an odd comment. They see in their own way, just different to us sighted people.
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