Celebrated comedian Rosie Jones spends her days bringing smiles and laughter to her audiences on screen and tour. But ever since her first television appearance, she’s kept a dark and upsetting side of her life in the spotlight private – she is trolled online, daily, and with horrific ferocity, often called the ‘R’-word and even receiving rape and death threats because of her disability.
In this unflinchingly personal film, Rosie, who has cerebral palsy, sets out to try to understand how prevalent disability trolling is in the UK, and why it’s often left completely unchecked. She sets herself the challenge of confronting a troll directly and exploring the role social media has to play in the rise of this abuse.
Rosie wants everyone in the UK to be aware of ableism and stand up to it when they see it. The film is a call to arms for all of us to play our part in ending the suffering of those who are abused simply because of their disability.
Our editor, Emma Purcell, got the opportunity to preview Rosie Jones’ documentary. Here she gives her review of the film and discusses the backlash over the choice of title.
Backlash of the documentary title “Am I A R*tard”
Even before the documentary has been broadcast, there has been a lot of backlash towards the choice of the documentary title Am I a R*tard?, particularly from the disability community. There were even other disabled people who participated in the film but requested they no longer be featured in the documentary after finding out the title.
Jackie O’Sullivan, Director of Communications, Advocacy and Activism at the learning disability charity Mencap, said:
“The R-word has been used as an offensive slur directly towards people with a learning disability, or referring to them, for years. People have told us that they are shocked and upset by the title of this documentary.
As a campaigning organisation, we understand the desperate need to get people talking about the incessant bullying and outdated attitudes towards disabled people. But using triggering, upsetting and harmful language to spark debate comes at a cost.
If offensive words are to be eliminated from the narrative around disability, they must be taken out of circulation entirely. They should be regarded as truly unspeakable.
We’re concerned about how the views of people with a learning disability were considered in this situation. We have contacted Channel 4 to ask them about their editorial decisions and will invite them to discuss the genuine inclusion of people with a learning disability, whose views so often go unheard.”
Rebecca Farren, a Sociology Master’s student, who is also white, lesbian and has cerebral palsy, shared a Twitter thread condoning Rosie’s choice of title.
She said: “Firstly, as many have pointed out, although the R slur is used against all disabled people, it originates as a slur and is primarily used against learning disabled people. It is not ours to reclaim and we should respect that.
Secondly, I’m troubled by the framing of the title. By asking ‘Am I a R-word?’ it poses the question as if the answer could be yes, and could trigger a lot of internalised ableism for disabled people. The discussion this generates is not worth the potential distress.”
Rosie Jones defends the documentary title
Despite a lot of backlash, Rosie has continued to defend the documentary title. Here at Crip Life, we empathise and support Rosie’s documentary and the use of the R-word.
Like Rosie, we’ve received criticism and controversy over the choice of our online magazine name “Crip Life”. In our case, the word crip has been reclaimed and it is now in common usage within the disability community and seen within social movements.
However, with Am I a R*tard?, Rosie is not trying to reclaim the R-word but to illustrate the harm this word has for disabled people and take a stand against it.
People have commented about the R-word being an offensive term to describe people with a learning disability and instead, Rosie should use “spastic” in the title because she has cerebral palsy.
Although the fact the R-word does originate from learning disabilities, it is believed that Rosie and Channel 4 chose the R-word merely because Rosie is called the R-word by trolls most frequently.
Also, it is likely most trolls do not know the real definition of the R-word and just know it as an offensive word to disabled people. The fact that Rosie has a visible difference with her poor coordination and speech impairment makes her an easy target for ableist abuse and people make assumptions she is both physically and intellectually disabled.
When I first read the title, I was proud that Rosie was taking such a bold move and thought she is brave to open up so honestly about the trolling she has received and highlight the challenges she faces in the spotlight.
If she was using this title for a comedy show, I can understand people’s concerns, but for a documentary that is so serious, powerful and personal to Rosie’s life, I think it is a strong and courageous title that will get noticed and hopefully make changes.
Additionally, the fact she has posed the title as a question doesn’t imply the answer could be yes. I believe she is asking the trolls to re-think their abusive statement and see that Rosie and other disabled people find it offensive and that we have feelings, goals, dreams and achievements just like non-disabled people.
Ally Castle, Channel 4’s Disability Consultant, wrote an article explaining why she advised the broadcaster to go with that title.
Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard? summary
Knowing Rosie Jones as a happy, positive, optimistic woman with a great sense of humour, we never expected she would have such a difficult and dark side going on in her life until now.
Rosie starts the documentary by sharing some of the many hurtful and ableist messages she has received online following television appearances. They are so shocking and awful that most people would never imagine anyone saying such nasty things.
A lot of the comments mock the way Rosie looks, her speech, the size of her teeth, the patronising assumption she needs care support or be locked away, violent and death threats and on many occasions, just call her a “r*tard”.
Because the online abuse got so bad, Rosie sourced the help of an organisation called Arwen, which can filter out and hide abusive messages on social media before Rosie sees them.
As part of the documentary, she visits Arwen’s offices to view more than 400 abusive messages about her. Rosie also attempted to report an abusive Tweet to Twitter with mixed success.
Furthermore, Rosie speaks to a couple who got trolled online after setting up a fundraiser for their severely disabled daughter, who required specialist medical treatment. The comments included suggestions they should’ve terminated the pregnancy and the parents only wanted attention and sympathy.
Rosie also chats with BBC broadcaster and disability correspondent Nikki Fox about her experience of being trolled and harassed online because she is a disabled person in the public eye.
Finally, Rosie manages to confront a troll who went to prison for sending abusive messages online. Sadly they weren’t an ableist person who targeted Rosie but someone who sent misogynist comments to a woman.
Rosie concludes the documentary by asking people to do more to stop ableism by reporting it and educating people on how serious, harmful and unacceptable ableism is to all disabled people.
Does this documentary tackle ableism?
Overall, this documentary is so powerful and emotional. At times, I just wanted to hug Rosie and tell her to not let these trolls win and remember so many people love and admire her and that she is very funny and talented.
Another very sad moment was Rosie saying she wears headphones when out in public by herself because she gets constant in-person verbal abuse too. She didn’t go into much detail but I was horrified to hear this happens to her in the street and online.
Although this is a very serious and sensitive topic, Rosie still managed to add some humour to the film. For example, when she visited Twitter headquarters to discuss a report she sent about an abusive Tweet she received, Rosie took a large cookie to them as a gift seeing as online platforms offer us “cookies” all the time.
I was disappointed that Rosie wasn’t able to speak to an online troll that was ableist. Also, personally, I felt the individual Rosie did speak to had lame reasons for sending abusive messages.
They said they were dealing with personal issues and mental health problems. We all face issues and many of us are dealing with mental health problems – it doesn’t mean we all start sending abusive messages to people. Plus, mental health can be identified as a hidden disability, meaning they are part of the disabled community as well.
I think this documentary is very compelling and will raise awareness of the impact of ableism. However, my biggest concern is how many non-disabled and ableist people will watch it.
I find with most written or multimedia content that focuses on disability is usually viewed by disabled people or allies of the disabled community who already understand ableism and some may have experienced abuse too.
My suggestion would be to have this documentary shown in mainstream schools, colleges, universities and workplaces. It would be useful content to help teach students and employees the importance and benefits of supporting and including disabled people and the harm ableist abuse brings to the disabled community. Moreover, it is a great way to highlight the fact ableism is just as serious and damaging as racism, sexism and homophobia.
We were hoping to conduct an exclusive interview with Rosie Jones to discuss her documentary but unfortunately due to her limited availability, this has had to be postponed for now. Stay tuned for a future interview with Rosie soon.
Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard? will be available to watch and stream on Channel 4 on Thursday 20th July at 10pm.
What are your thoughts on Rosie Jones’ documentary and the choice of title? Let us know in the comments box or on social media.
