Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Is YouTube making fun of stutterers?

Leys Geddes sent this email around:
Hello, everyone.

As many of you are involved in speaking publicly about stammering, I thought you would be interested to know that recently we complained to You Tube about a number of videos on their site which showed people stammering, or pretending to stammer, which had been classified as Comedy. In response, they said there was no infringement of their codes - so these videos would stay up and would still be described as Comedy.

So we decided to fight back directly and you can now see the result here.



It’s very interesting to note that, over the weekend, the Observer raised a similar issue, in which teachers are calling call for YouTube to ban videos on their site in which children are shown bullying other children.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could anybody to transcript the sound of the video? It would be interesting to subtitle it in other languages.

Anonymous said...

I'd just like to add one more thing to this subject. I am from subcontinent and have seen many Indian and Pakistani movies and tv serials where stammerers are presented as idiots, unintelligent and are ridiculed.
I remember very uneasy moments whenever something like this came up while watching a movie with friends or family members.

Anonymous said...

YouTube categorizing stammering under comedy? This has to be a joke, right? I do not laugh at other peoples big noses, large ears, terrible skin, height, weight... What right does YouTube have advertise and effectively promote ridicule?

Einar said...

Wow, great speech! So True!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the creator of YouTube doesn't stutter, eh? We as people who stutter need to remember that 97% of the population have no idea what our experience is like. Accepting my stuttering is a daily ritual, however mild or severe my experiences. That acceptance includes our assumptions of the views of others towards stuttering and the forgiveness of those who fall into the category of the undesirable.
Just today I let myself get upset because of a job that I lost a couple of months ago, and later I realized that it's not about me, it's about how others perceive my oral communication. What a waste! I'm lucky that I am a musician, no problem with communication there. But the day job is a necessity at this point and I'm lucky to have an understanding and tolerant boss.
YouTube, unfortunately falls in to the category of ignorance and poor judgment. So do many other organizations. We're going after the small fish, people! There are bigger fish to fry! They are known as ignorance and contemptuous. Fighting it means we need to be cool with every aspect of who we are, stuttering, the perception of others, and all. Like I wrote earlier, it's a daily thing, you know? Not easy!!

Unknown said...

I am ashamed of my stuttering so much. One of the reasons is because these people make fun of me 80 times a week.