Don't just grin and bear it

In the 1990s, action by disabled people helped to bring about the end of ITV’s Telethon appeal. Now activist Richard Downes says it’s time for that spirit to be rekindled in pursuit of a different quarry

One day I was lazily browsing Facebook when a distant friend, disability activist and artist Clair Lewis, sent a picture that really tickled me. Pudsey Bear with a bleeding bullet hole in his cheek, a gun pointed at his head and the slogan “I Shot Pudsey Bear”.

The months passed and the BBC started to promote the wounded bear again. Pudsey was every­where again. Clair sent a message: “Resist! Do some­thing!” I looked at the picture and wondered what would happen if we all shot Pudsey. And so it was that the We All Shot Pudsey Bear Facebook Group was bought into the world.

Basic information states: “Members of this group wish to see the back of Pudsey Bear. Members wish to see a government really committed to the rights of disabled people and a public that takes responsibility rather than chips in to yet another telethon.” The challenge was laid down.

Articles started appearing on the group about the history of disabled people’s resistance to telethons, the public was being asked what it was doing, Pudsey was being sighted and shot down by wit and repartee, and disabled people’s activism received a much-needed injection.

We started a Burn Pudsey Friday event coinciding with Children in Need. We held our own indoor and outdoor events. We took pictures and videos of Pudsey going up in flames. We sent in our reports and made up stories. We heard from activists about what they had done or would be doing, of a picture or video that was on the way. The group went on growing. New activists, their imagination captured, were doing something for the first time. Disabled activists were linked to an action by the net.

Is Pudsey a mythological creature, an embracer of children, a tragic cove, a god – tattered, torn and like the Norse god Balder, blind? He is said to bring joy and his charity is munificent. But activists see behind the blindfold. They know that he is there to be fondled by unctuous celebs, unwittingly demonstrating their complete failure to engage with real issues.

Some disabled people started shouting a long time back and now the chants are being heard again: “Rights

Not Charity”, “Piss On Pity”. Participate. Get involved. Join We All Shot Pudsey Bear.

• For more information visit www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46564848880