Election Year or Fear!

[ramAnag]

Im reminded a bit of an incident when we went out with family members to watch a show. Sat behind us was a family with a young boy, maybe 10/11 ish who clearly had a disability. He was laughing very loud at everything, shouting out. To be honest he was having a great time.

This was clearly annoying members of my family and at the interval they said comeon we are moving.

My wife and me refused, to be honest the lad enjoying himself was great to see and hear. But I felt ashamed they had moved because I feel sure his family would have known why.

Now you could say it was better that then saying something etc. That's something I had forgotten about until now.

As it happens one of my nephews is showing signs he might have tics, I wonder how my family would feel if someone moved or complained if he does go on to develop something similar to John Davidson.

You’re a lovely man, Sith, one of the kindest on here. I take all your points and am uncomfortable disagreeing with you to the slight extent that I am.

Rightly or wrongly a child’s ‘inappropriate’ behaviour is rather different from a grown man’s, but sticking with the child aspect for a moment I feel very conflicted.

As a parent it was always important to me that my children behaved well in public places. As a grandparent I am proud of the fact that I can trust them to behave appropriately in public and that, in turn, is testament to the upbringing provided by their parents.
As a teacher who specialised in dealing with children with behavioural difficulties I had, believe it or not, something of a reputation for including kids who others wouldn’t take anywhere. That didn’t make me a ‘soft touch’, far from it. If kids broke the trust and let me down they knew it’d be a while till they were picked for a team/invited to the theatre/took part in a residential again, but part of that process was them understanding the expectations.

You know, when you’re taking people with ‘difficulties’ into new and challenging situations that you have a responsibility to all concerned to manage that situation. That’s as true in the theatre as it is on the football pitch or a cycle track and I’m reminded of one occasion in particular. One kid, let’s call him Jack, was particularly difficult - he was killed in a gang fight in Derby about two years after leaving school which might tell you something - anyway he really wanted to see a production of the Hobbit at Buxton Opera House.
The consensus amongst the staff was that it was madness to take him but I did, on the condition that Jack sat next to me throughout the performance and never left my side. He managed it and each time he looked like getting ‘over stimulated’ at what was a very visual and exciting performance, a look or a nudge would calm him down.
He was a young person with complex behavioural needs. His behaviour was frequently dangerous, unpredictable and inappropriate. I don’t know to what extent it could be compared with Tourette’s because, tbh, I don’t think I’d heard of the condition until MUFC signed Tim Howard, but I do suspect that if someone had taken more responsibility for the guy at the BAFTAs and there’d been a friend/significant other sitting alongside him just to recognise the warning signs and provide a calming/guiding presence then much of this might have been avoided.

[Geoff Parkstone]

That’s a tricky one Sith, but there’s a difference just IMO between moving (to recover the enjoyment one expected from attending) and asking the person himself to move or otherwise complain directly about him. I can see both sides re the former, totally against the latter. There is a third way, which my family are constantly embarrassed about because I do it, and that is to actually engage with the person concerned. Such people no doubt struggle for interaction and my ‘habit’ started when somewhat shamefully my (then) local church congregation used to pretty much ignore a fellah who had ‘problems’. He told me he knew he’d be treated like that in most settings and said (I paraphrase) ‘look on the bright side, at least I can always get a seat!’

Andrew Lawrence, comedian of these parts, sums the storm in a teacup nicely here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVI9A...ZvbHVkMWF4NA==

[SithHappens]

You’re a lovely man, Sith, one of the kindest on here. I take all your points and am uncomfortable disagreeing with you to the slight extent that I am.

Rightly or wrongly a child’s ‘inappropriate’ behaviour is rather different from a grown man’s, but sticking with the child aspect for a moment I feel very conflicted.

As a parent it was always important to me that my children behaved well in public places. As a grandparent I am proud of the fact that I can trust them to behave appropriately in public and that, in turn, is testament to the upbringing provided by their parents.
As a teacher who specialised in dealing with children with behavioural difficulties I had, believe it or not, something of a reputation for including kids who others wouldn’t take anywhere. That didn’t make me a ‘soft touch’, far from it. If kids broke the trust and let me down they knew it’d be a while till they were picked for a team/invited to the theatre/took part in a residential again, but part of that process was them understanding the expectations.

You know, when you’re taking people with ‘difficulties’ into new and challenging situations that you have a responsibility to all concerned to manage that situation. That’s as true in the theatre as it is on the football pitch or a cycle track and I’m reminded of one occasion in particular. One kid, let’s call him Jack, was particularly difficult - he was killed in a gang fight in Derby about two years after leaving school which might tell you something - anyway he really wanted to see a production of the Hobbit at Buxton Opera House.
The consensus amongst the staff was that it was madness to take him but I did, on the condition that Jack sat next to me throughout the performance and never left my side. He managed it and each time he looked like getting ‘over stimulated’ at what was a very visual and exciting performance, a look or a nudge would calm him down.
He was a young person with complex behavioural needs. His behaviour was frequently dangerous, unpredictable and inappropriate. I don’t know to what extent it could be compared with Tourette’s because, tbh, I don’t think I’d heard of the condition until MUFC signed Tim Howard, but I do suspect that if someone had taken more responsibility for the guy at the BAFTAs and there’d been a friend/significant other sitting alongside him just to recognise the warning signs and provide a calming/guiding presence then much of this might have been avoided.

I think most of us don't understand tourettes so no idea if having someone beside you would help or not, I reckon not but I don't know. I doubt he was on his own but I don't know.

It does make me think of Deuce Bigalow Male Gigalo where one of his regular customers had tourettes and he used to take her to a football game (or baseball can't recall) where the crowd was noisy so she could comfortably shoot out all she wanted.

[ramAnag]

I think most of us don't understand tourettes so no idea if having someone beside you would help or not, I reckon not but I don't know. I doubt he was on his own but I don't know.

Fair point. I don’t know either. The whole thing seems to smack of some sort of set up, but I don’t know who by, or why.

[SithHappens]

Andrew Lawrence, comedian of these parts, sums the storm in a teacup nicely here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVI9A...ZvbHVkMWF4NA==

Indeed, very well said

[Ram Pant]

For BAFTAs you could interchange Golden Globes, Brits, Grammy, Oscars and any other luvvy dovey award malarkey I've not mentioned.

[Ram Pant]

Like you, AF, I engage with "different" people, much to the chagrin of family. It's not always voluntary either. For some strange reason, the "nutter on the bus" tends to come and sit next to me...

[Andy_Faber]

Andrew Lawrence, comedian of these parts, sums the storm in a teacup nicely here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVI9A...ZvbHVkMWF4NA==

Absolutely spot on and he even managed to fit in a bit of racism of his own, the type that the luvvies won’t be popping a ******* about

[Geoff Parkstone]

Absolutely spot on and he even managed to fit in a bit of racism of his own, the type that the luvvies won’t be popping a ******* about

We will ignore the inherent -ism in the use of the phrase "luvvies", but I think its the attention seeking faux liberals whose *******s may pop!

[ramAnag]

Andrew Lawrence, comedian of these parts, sums the storm in a teacup nicely here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVI9A...ZvbHVkMWF4NA==

Unsurprised that the returning GP finds him funny these days. The BAFTAS row provided a source of very low hanging fruit, but dig a little deeper and some may find their initial approval waning.
Each to their own but not one for me, thanks.