Ran across this article and the more I think about it the more I am beginning to worry that we as a society are going too far with this type of behaviour
Student union bans clapping to make events 'inclusive'
The University of Manchester's student union wants praise communicated using jazz hands instead - and cheering is also banned.
Clapping has been banned by a student union in an move to be more inclusive towards those with anxiety or sensory issues.
Jazz hands - British Sign Language (BSL) clapping - will replace clapping, cheering and whooping at the University of Manchester's student union events.
According to student newspaper Mancunion, the ban was agreed at the first union meeting of the year.
"It resolved to swap out audible clapping for BSL clapping at SU events, and to encourage student groups and societies to do the same, and to include BSL clapping as a part of inclusion training," the student paper reads.
The motion was authored by liberation and access officer Sara Khan, and received little opposition.
Now while it is all well and good that the aim or goal is to make things more inclusive are initiatives like this really accomplishing that goal?
Have they not just excluded the blind or those with poor eyesight from their "inclusive" initative? At least the deaf individuals would have been able to see when clapping occurred and participate and stop at appropriate times. Would they not have also had a sign language interpreter present which would have allowed them to know when to clap or stop? After all that would have been when the jazz hands would have been used. I think the bigger issue here for the deaf is that they couldn't hear the presentation at all, not the worry that were feeling left out by not knowing when to clap or cheer.
Seems like we are throwing the baby out with the bath water here folks.
The blind are now left out of this "inclusive" club. At least previously they were able to tell when to start and stop clapping by the sound. Now this has been removed and they are left literally in the dark. Doesn't seem to inclusive to me. What have the deaf gained vs what the blind have lost? Are we really ahead?
What about those poor individuals who don't have hands? Are they now going to feel even more excluded? An initiative after all was created for the sole purpose of including those with disabilities and yet once again they were excluded even from that. Talk about feeling left out. Not even like they could raise their hands and object.
Obviously we as a society need to find ways to include as many people as we can in everything, but it just seems like things are getting out of hand and not accomplishing anything real or lasting at all.
Should all of us with sight, wear dark glasses at all times to make the blind feel inclusive?
Should we all plug our ears so the deaf don't feel different?
I fear that soon we might be asked to do just that in order to make others feel included.
It seems that the more we try to include every nook and cranny of humanity, the more obvious it becomes about the ones that are now being excluded.
In my opinion, while the goal of these initiatives is admirable, they are not accomplishing that goal and only serving to further emphasize the exclusive nature of our society. This push for political correctness and making everyone happy at all times is simply fool's gold.
In a sense this is just another move at stifling individuality and freedom of expression. I mean really, clapping is now offensive? Cheering? When will this be implemented at sporting events? Somehow I just can't see this being adopted the next time Manchester United plays Liverpool or Arsenal. Does that mean all those fans are being inconsiderate to the deaf?
Where do we draw the line? How much is too much? There is a lot of time, money and manpower being put into initiatives such as this, but again, are they really having the desired impact? Or we are just shifting the exclusivity problem from one group to another?
Obviously building wheelchair ramps or the like is a good initiative as that does not newly inconvenience a different group of individuals. Having a sign language interpreter also does not cause anyone else a detriment, only benefits. But changing the way society claps or shows appreciation? These are much more wide ranging changes that can promote problems that it appears are not even being considered by the champions of initiatives such as these.
Now while I have presented some entirely far-fetched and perhaps humorous examples I wonder how many of them are in the works right now?
So I ask one final time.
Are we going to far?
