I was saddened and felt smacked around the ears to hear Auckland lawyer Jeremy Bioletti use disability terms as a form of abuse today. He said on Radio NZ news at three o’clock “you would have to be deaf dumb and blind not to…” What he meant was that you would have to be really stupid. Why didn’t he just say that? Deaf and blind people aren’t any more stupid than anyone else. What makes it worse is that Deaf people can’t respond to abuse on radio.
It was even more unfortunate that he used the term in relation to the real and important human rights issue of human trafficking. He was obviously affronted in that particular instance, and I might well agree with him. But he probably wouldn’t use sexist or racist language in that context. And before I hear anyone accuse me of PC gone mad” I will remind them that no one likes to be gratuitously insulted. Human rights are nothing if not about respect and dignity. Please Mr Bioletti, remember it is not OK to protect the human rights of one group while slagging off another.
please accept my sincere apology.rest assured i will be alive to this issue in any future interviews. warm Regards Jeremy Bioletti
Thanks Jeremy. Much appreciated. I hope your work on trafficking goes well. Its good to know there are lawyers working on these issues. I guess you know that NZ has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Best regards Robyn
Hi Robyn
No I was not aware of that convention but I will look it up on the net. The relationship between international law and domestic law in NZ is in its infancy. Something about being a small island miles from anywhere. In fact human rights in Nz is a dirty word. I stumbled into the area of the convention on trafficking simply by becoming involved in particular cases.
NZ very self satisfied over these issues.
Cheers
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for taking an interest in human rights issues. We need more lawyers who are prepared to be well informed. Despite human rights being a ‘dirty word’ here, NZ has quite an honourable history in the establishment of the UN structures, and in the development of the CRPD. Minister of Justice Simon Power is also quite interested as well. There are some academics who are interested too, some of them are involved with the Human Rights Foundation. Margaret Bedggood, a former Human Rights Commissioner is one who springs to mind. If you would like more info on the CRPD I can be contacted at the Human Rights Commission where I am a part time commissioner with responsibility for disability issues. There is also some info on the web site which may be useful.
Cheers
Robyn