January 06, 2007
Epithet
I've had my share of teachers and professors who were clueless when it came to dealing with a student with a disability in their class, but at least none of them ever called me a cripple (not to my face, anyway). I'm not surprised that this word still has currency as an insult. What does surprise me is that a teacher--a British teacher!--would get caught flinging this word at a student. Aren't all British teachers crusty but lovable souls who are in a constant state of mild annoyance caused by their students' failure to grasp the conjugation of irregular Latin verbs?
Posted by wintermute2_0 at January 6, 2007 08:20 PM
Comments
I had a bone disease as a child that confined me to hospital for a year. The hospital I was in was called the "Biddulph Grange Orthopaedic Hospital", having changed its name not so long before from the more direct "North Staffordshire Cripple's Hospital". In a way I prefer the earlier title - who knows what an orthopaed is? But open up a Cripple's Hospital and you know exactly what you're getting!
Posted by: Paul at January 7, 2007 02:13 AM
Hello Paul I was a nurse at Biddulh Grange and we had a patient named Paul who was on a frame for some time. This was about 1948 I wonder was this you.
My name then was Parkin
Posted by: margaret at October 1, 2007 03:45 AM