Like a lot of the country, I’m glued to The Traitors - the new BBC reality tv show hosted by Claudia Winkleman that puts people against each other to root out who is working against them, whilst they manipulate everyone else.
The nature of the show means that tensions are high, but one thing I think the show has highlighted is how we still disregard disabilities and are quick to view disabled traits as inherently bad.
For instance, the first “faithful”, as they’re called, to be cast out was Nicky, a woman who lost her hand in a car accident. Nicky tells us that with the prize money she’d buy a bionic hand, unfortunately she isn’t around long enough for this to be a reality.
Nicky was accused of being a traitor after she failed to raise a glass in cheers along with everyone else when they pledged to find the traitors.
However, it was pretty obvious to me why she didn’t and as she later explained “it’s to the right of me, it’s not natural for me to do that”.
This wasn’t something any of the other contestants seemed to accept, it was just shrugged off. Though they all still remembered the act as a sign of her not declaring herself to be faithful when it came to banishing one of them and Nicky was the first to go home.
Nicky was also accused of being bossy during the task for giving everyone else orders, however, there wasn’t much else she could do in a task that involved unravelling knots.
I know what you’re thinking - it is great she’d been cast in the show to begin with and honestly I would like to commend the diverse casting in this series. Along with people from all races, faiths, and sexualities we have three whole disabled people on the show, a rarity for any show, let alone reality tv.
I truly am a massive fan of this show, that’s why it’s so disheartening to see the way disabled people are being treated by non-disabled contestants. I think it says more about how society treats disabled people and that has trickled down to allow such casual ableism.
Along with Nicky there is also Meryl who has achondroplasia. Meryl thus far has had quite good representation in the show - though there is a fear of her being portrayed as “amazing” for doing things that non-disabled people take for granted.
This leaked out a little bit whe she was praised for doing the fairground ride task, which as Meryl pointed out was the first time she could ever go on a fairground ride. Great accessibility on the show’s part, but the way she was overly praised for doing it felt different to the way the other 9 were.
The third disabled contestant is Aaron, who has ADHD. He is accused after another contestant says they felt like they were being drilled for information and that he’s never sitting down. This is despite the fact that excessive talking and movement - in particular being unable to sit still are both ADHD symptoms.
When everything gets too much for him after he’s repeatedly accused and shouted at by mutliple people at once, he has a meltdown and asks if he can take a minute out.
Instead of treating the fact he’s overwhelmed and having a panic attack with compassion, the others see this as an act and like he’s faking it to get out of the situation.
This is something I’ve experienced too, as a neurodivergent person, when my brain is overloaded in an argument I will struggle to process what’s happening and freak out. Unfortunately mine too have often been met with disbelief instead of understanding and allowing me the space to calm down.
Although Aaron wasn’t voted out, these actions were still used against him and brought again the next day at breakfast. When he entered the room he says he’s exhausted and tells us in his to screen bit that he’s “really drained right now with all the heightened emotions last night”.
However this doesn’t stop Maddy from reaffirming that she still thinks he’s a traitor and John calling out “you should’ve got an oscar for that performance”, with Maddy saying “that was like crocodile tears”.
It’s hypocritical then, that when John is put on trial he has a similar reaction to the one he accused Aaron of faking and walks out of the room after getting emotional. Funnily though he isn’t accused of exaggerating because everyone else is also feeling upset and instead others follow to check he’s okay.
I’m often asked if attitudes towards disabled people have changed and I find it a difficult question to answer.
The reason for this is while I do think most people try to be more understanding, it's often only the easy to get and, dare I say it, palatable ideas of living with disability that people have become more accepting of.
It’s often the easy fixes such as ramps or automatic doors that are done and praised instead of addressing the the underlying problems and attitudes.
Supplying buses with ramps doesn't change the fact that non-disabled passengers will be sitting in their seats and rolling their eyes at this inconvenience to their commute.
However, when it comes to the way disabled people who aren’t obviously disabled are treated, I don't think attitudes have changed it all. It’s much easier to assume someone is faking a panic attack to get out of an argument than actually check if they’re okay, especially if you’re already mad with them.
It’s easy to go “oh everyone on Tiktok has ADHD now” instead of actually taking the time to think about why people are only now realising that they are disabled instead of just “disruptive”.
Perhaps so many people are self-diagnosing because the education and healthcare system failed them is the reason and not just for attention.
Neurodivergent disabilities have always faced scorn, because struggling to comprehend what our own brains are telling us and never being able to control our actions isn’t something that neurotypical people (those who don’t have a neurodivergent condition such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia or Dyspraxia) will ever really understand.
The way disabled people, especially Aaron have been treated by non-disabled people on The Traitors shows that ableist attitudes are still very much prevailing in society.
The message is clear - unless we act exactly the same to you, it can’t be real and we aren’t worthy of respect.
