Doctor Who and Mencap
Created | Updated Dec 8, 2005
On Wednesday, 23 November, 2005, I attended the Learning Disability Today exhibition in London. It was held in the attractive Business Design Centre. Myself, a colleague and two clients (two men with learning disabilities that we worked with) went along to see what it was all about.
There were many exhibitors representing different organisations and charities, including Mencap. On the stage, drama, dance and musical performances were performed by people with learning disabilities who wanted to challege stereotyped views. Towards the end of the day, there was an interview that we all were surprised and pleased by.
Chris Eccleston from BBC TV's Dr Who is the new ambassador for Mencap, the UK's largest learning disability charity, who work with people with learning disabilities and with their families and carers. (I work for a different but similar organisation.)
Eccleston was was being interviewed by Jo Whiley, a DJ from BBC Radio 1. She asked him brief but interesting questions about why he had decided to become an ambassador for Mencap, Doctor Who (of course) and acting.
He said he wanted to increase the public's awareness and understanding of what a learning disability was. He wanted to challenge the public's attitude. He also wanted to promote the rights of people with learning disabilities and those of their families and carers.
Eccleston replied that he thought that Doctor Who and sci-fi in general are popular with people with learning disabilities because of their feelings of alienation. He said that through letters he had received and from talking to fans that they felt that 'the Doctor' understood where they were coming from. The respounding ethos of Doctor Who is of diversity and equality from an outsider's (the Doctor's) and an insider's (the companion's) perspective.
Eccleston said that during the recent Dr Who season, whenever Rose or another character reacted in a (knowingly or not) prejudiced way towards an alien or an alien's beliefs, the Doctor would point out that he was an alien. He would act as a go-between, to help humans understand and look at a different perspective.
Before Dr Who, Eccleston had played a character who had a learning disbility in Let Him Have It. This was about the case of Derek Bentley, a man who was hanged for a shooting he didn't commit. Eccleston had done a great deal of research on the subject of learning disabilites and had become interested in the subject. Recently, he played an adopted man in the BBC's Flesh and Blood, who found out that both his parents had learning disabilities.
Whiley asked him questions about his time on Doctor Who: did he miss it (yes), did he want to go back (a very strong no) and how he felt about the character personally. Eccleston was very appreciative of the writing and storytelling and the overall character of the Doctor. He spoke about the metaphor of the Daleks as the Doctor's souless enemies.
The audience was a mixture of professionals, clients and service users — people with learning disabilities themselves. Jo Whiley went onto the floor to get the audience to ask some questions. One man asked Eccleston about how a person would get into acting, and was an HND difficult? Eccleston explained that up to 90% of actors are out of work and for a person with a disability it would be harderm but that if you were dedicated and wished to pursue it then that shouldn't be a barrier. Eccleston was a charming intervewee and stayed long after the interview to sign autographs and have pictures taken with guests (and one of the clients I was supporting was extremely pleased).
This is a difficult time for people with learning disabilities, as many services are being cut due to drastic cuts in government funding. The people that provide that funding are social services and another government group called 'Supporting People' from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister. They came fully into being in 2003. Since then, many services massively overspent, due to Supporting People not realising the huge costs involved. They are now having to make cutbacks in staffing hours and services, which will have a huge impact on many lives if social services refuse to fund the difference for those services.
