January 2007

Having struggled to the end of the sticky, inaccessible morass that was 2007, Backchat thought it would be fitting to present some worthless awards to those who have left greasy fingerprints on the spotty face of history.

The Backchat Long-Service award: this should have gone to the Disability Rights Commission. Unfortunately, the DRC only managed a measly seven years before being summarily executed and replaced by an even more unmemorable acronym.

Most Amusing Spontaneous Combustion: who else but Heather Mills? After presenting a generally sensible account of herself in Disability Now, she took a large croquet mallet to her public image with a few wildly misjudged television interviews. Heather, what were you thinking?

Most Pointless Journey: Backchat understands that there was a good reason for yachtsman Geoff Holt to make his “Personal Everest” trek around the coast of the UK, but this information has sadly been lost, along with the hundreds of emails informing us of his interminable progress.

International Personality of the Year: it could only be Ben Carpenter, the man taken on a hair-raising 50mph ride after his powerchair became trapped in the front grille of a lorry in Michigan, USA. His only complaint after his ordeal: he’d spilled his soda.

Most Accessible Service-Provider: the “young” working girl plying her trade in our notorious local park, who approached Backchat and his assistance dog to offer her services (which were politely declined).

Who says the DDA isn’t working? For all those worried about disability hate crime, Backchat has some reassuring news.

When asked by Disability Now why their force seemed to be failing to target such offences, one police spokesman impressed us no end with the line: “Oh, sorry, what is a disability hate crime?”

But even more reassuring was the news that the Crown Prosecution Service will be training staff about the accurate recording of disability hate crime through “awareness-raising posters and postcards”.

Oh, good. That should put a stop to all those nasty murders, robberies and kidnappings.