Why is it that making fun of physically disabled people is deemed wrong, but...?

Question

People can make fun of people with mental problems and it's funny?
I have never quite understood that myself =/
And I know this doesn't apply to everyone, and that there are nice people out there =]

If you were to imitate someone who had been born with only one leg and make fun of that, many people would tell you that you were sick, cruel etc... However if you were to imitate a schizophrenic and make fun of them, it's amusing...?

I find that quite awful, but I also find that it tells you a lot about humans. If you can't see it, or don't understand it...

Thankyou for so many replies, but I think I didn't make it clear that the question was merely an observation of modern society and whatnot.

Thank you everyone, for your answers.
Some of them were incredibly boring, and not at all explanatory.
I want your OPINIONS on why people do/think this.

I'll tell you the answer, it's fear.
I'm going to take a class example.
Marilyn Manson.
People hate him. Why? They don't understand him. Because they don't understand him, they make rumors. (Please don't bring up that b/s about the ribs). If people don't understand, they will be afraid, and feel the need to discriminate and hate. People have been doing this since they existed.
So why is it that some people still do? I find it all so fascinating.
People who dress differently endure abuse at school, why? Because the "normal" do not understand why they dress that way, therefore they are scared and feel the need to hate.

Someone with a mental illness. People can not see it. They can see the effects, but not the illness. This scares them, a lot. Therefore, making fun of the mentally ill is deemed funny, because laughing takes away some of the fear.

Joking about someone physically disabled is seen as wrong, because we can SEE the problem. Therefore people think differently about it.

I find that joking about mental illness is very much like the "N word" in black people.
If you were schizophrenic, you have every right to joke about it. However, that is just my biased opinion. =]

Sidra A, "A person who is born physically disabled is disabled for life.
A person who has mental problems does not have mental problems for life, and often times can actively change their situation."
And you call MY analogy of the matter illogical?
Many mental illnesses stay with people for life, drugs can treat, but there's rarely a cure.
And I know next to nothing about physical disabilities, but I'm pretty sure that more physical disabilities are "cured" than mental illnesses.

Answer 1

You said it very well. Thank you. My heart literally hurts for people with a mental illness. Much more so than for a physically handicapped person. Think how horrifying it would be if you couldn't trust your own mental stability. It isn't a laughing matter.

Answer 2

I dont know who these people are who think its funny or acceptable. Idiots IMO. Society has deemed it ok? Arent YOU part of society? If you want to say nothing, maybe laugh, you are as guilty as the person making the idiotic remarks.

It is NOT okay to make fun of a disabled person, whether its a stand up comic, who is incapable of thinking of anything that is actually funny and thinks offensive material is funny, or some idiot on the street.

I have been to so-called "comedy" shows where half the audience has gotten up and walked out because they found the material offensive.

Younger comedians today dont seem to have a really good grasp of what humour is, and just make idiots of themselves by spouting the same garbage someone might have laughed at in grade seven.

A lot of it is also "bathroom humour" that no mature adults finds remotely funny.

Its basically a sad reflection on our society and what certain people think is funny these days. Its an insult to the average person intelligence IMO

Saying you make fun of the disability to "make it less scary" is just an excuse for your insensitive behavior. DO you really believe making jokes about a disability makes it less of a reality for the disabled?

Answer 3

A person who is born physically disabled is disabled for life.
A person who has mental problems does not have mental problems for life, and often times can actively change their situation. Since a person is capable of changing the situation, I suppose people view it as a personality flaw intrinsic to the person and thus something to make fun of.

I don't support making fun of people with mental problems, but at the same time, your analogy between physically disabled and emotionally disturbed people is not logical.

Answer 4

Well, I think it's wrong if the other person doesn't see any
humor in it and can't give it back to ya. But if the person
understands what your doing is not mean and make fun back
at ya, then I don't see much wrong with it.
Like this guy at work mad fun of a deaf distributor guy at work
when he came to fill the snack machines. Basically
equivicating deafness with retards. Now, everyone else I now
at work treats this man with respect because he's a serious
minded person so I found this person's attempt at humor
offensive. However if this deaf guy could deliver a better
stabbing comeback then I could see humor in the exchange.
Basically, It's not humorous to jab at weaker people. But,
jabbing amongst equals is lively entertainment.

Answer 5

i do have to say that people that do make fun of people with disabilities is wrong but until society can stop making fun of what "they" consider weak, not normal, and not worthy of leading normal lives so called "able-bodied" people will continue to do so forth.
I am a woman with a physical disability, and i am dating a paraplegic man. we both lead full productive lives while going to school, work, and vacationing. sure sometimes we are not able to do normal things like steps, walk, dance, or drive without special equipment, but no the less we are just like everyone else.
The real answer is to your question is that "normal" people feel they should feel superior to anyone not like them, and that is the difference between leaders and followers. A follower will do what everyone else is doing, but a leader will just do their own thing.

Answer 6

Its wrong to make fun of someone because their different. People are insensitive and make fun of others to hide their own insecurities. Most people think that people with mental disabilities can't understand what their saying and/or don't feel hurt by it. My oldest sister is mentally handicap and she has come home crying because of what people say to her and about her. Its horrible. She tries so hard to fit in and simply can't because people don't accept her. Most people that make fun of people with disabilities don't see the results it has on the person and don't understand how hard the person actually has it.

Answer 7

Since the dawn of time man has feared the unknown, and that which he did not understand, or that which was new to him. Couple that with the fact that man has not always been the sharpest knife in the drawer, and even today, we often act before we think, and if we are honest with ourselves I think most of us will admit that we still are uncomfortable around those who are "Different", and all of us react differently when confronted with those members of society who are "different" from ourselves in someway, those differences run the gauntlet of everything from race, sexual preference, national origin, mental or physical disability, body shape, physical attractiveness, political affiliation, or even how we dress or wear our hair.

So we develop ways of coping or dealing with these differences. The "Sophisticates", those who deem themselves "more enlightened" and generally superior to and smarter than the masses of the great unwashed, generally feign to embrace "All Men - no matter what the malady they suffer from", - while in private they deride any one with any infirmity or disability. As we descend the social pecking order the response to the "differently- abled" can range from oblivious, to sympathetic, to pity, to admiration, to wariness, to hatred.

Some among us are so unsettled by the fact that others have twisted bodies, or injured minds that they can not deal with the percieved horror of that persons disability, so they need to "vent". For some the easiest way is to joke or make fun of the handicapped, for others the response is to physically beat their victims, others ralley against them for being diffferent - and try to legislate their behavior to make them "normal".

But there is another side to this too = and that is that if the "fun making" is not cruel - but is actually funny and is done well - then that is - in a way, is a means of being accepted into the group. (It's sometimes better to be teased that totally ignored). (As an offical "cripple" myself, I am so sick and tired of this Political Correctness Crap I could scream - it's a fraud - and it robs me of my dignity more than it does anything to help "protect me" from psychological assult from the public.

I want to be treated like everyone else, I do not need special dispensation just because my legs don't work right anymore. So honey, do worry about us, like the nursery rhyme goes: "Sticks & stone may break our bones, but words will never hurt us".

Thanks for your concern, you really want to "help" us? Then look past our disabilities and see us - we are still men & women, with the same needs and appetites as you "normal" people. We have the same desires, the same plans & goals, and worries. We want good jobs that pay great, hot babes and cute guys, wild sex, great wives & husbands, to raise our families, have a dog named Jack, a red corvette, a speed boat, a lake cabin, - whatever the American dream promises those who work hard to accomplish. So save your charity for those who need it dear. Thanks for the concern, and god bless you.

Answer 8

No, it's not acceptable to make cruel jokes about a person's handicap, in the sense of wisecracks to the person involved. But so much of humor is about "crazy" things people do, and often about people who are supposedly crazy, but actually very clever, as "Crazy Guggenheim," a character by Red Skelton back in the fifties. And a joke about someone with one leg might be appropriate if it was understood to be a long-ago pirate with a peg leg, like Captain Ahab, for example. Also, it is considered acceptable for handicapped people to joke about themselves if they want.

BTW, people are rarely born with only one leg. If they have a birth defect of a missing limb, it is most often symmetrical. If someone is missing one leg, it is most likely due to an injury. And a joke about the accident or war story that lost the leg might be acceptable.

Humor is a very different thing from "poking fun," being cruel. Telling jokes, as in a stand-up comic in a nightclub, is a lot freer than most other social situations, especially if the comedian makes jokes about a lot of different groups of people, handicapped or racial or ethnic stereotypes. And of course, as mentioned before, they may always tell jokes about themselves. The best Jewish jokes are told by Jewish comedians.

Answer 9

, i belong to a brain support group and a young man stepped up . he had a accident at age 17 or 18 hes know i be leave 24 he told us that he along with Friends always made fun of the disabled people but now he knows how thay feel and people do the same to him as he did . its just not nice because you mite meet a disabled person that just mite go off big time .. its just not nice. i also have a son whom did the same he also is know disabled. there are alot of people out there that will always make fun or even look , it does seem to amuse them ,iv always told my kids hey don't do that don't make fun because that could be someone you love and someday it could be one of us we now have a different out look.......

Answer 10

i understand what you are saying ...people can be cruel but its mostly ignorance and fear ...the unfortunate thing is that we cant be responsible for every ones attitude .....but we can in our own way break down some of the barriers...I've always worked with people who have disabilities ..mostly mental health issues and learning difficulties...i have also experienced it close hand ,,but the thing i found helped was that i educated my children .....fortunately my family are all of the same opinion..every one has a right to a "quality" of life and respect as an individual...we all feel love and pain regardless....x