Offended by political correctness

Is it right for people with disabilities to fall into the same social category as ex-offenders and drug users? asks Emma Suddaby.

Every few months the Shropshire Council magazine is delivered, uninvited, to my door. It gatecrashes through my letterbox and is treated to a serious mauling by my canine doorman, who takes his security duties very seriously indeed.

By the time I get to it, it's in tatters on the floor. What do I do? Do I smooth its ripped pages, lavish attention on the news it brings? I'm afraid not. I mutter about the mess and scoop its many tattered pieces straight into the bin.

But bearing in mind the changes afoot with regard to the new unitary council, this time I thought I'd show their poor, molested magazine some mercy. I decided to actually read the spring issue and make its short, traumatised life worthwhile. Now that I have, I remember exactly why I tended to avoid this sort of super-politically-correct, squeaky-clean exercise in customer relations.

Reading through it I notice again and again many mentions are made of the council's "vulnerable'constituents". Vulnerable is not a word many have ever used to describe me, but like it or not it is the category I fall into. Along - according to Shropshire Council magazine - with ex-offenders and those with a history of substance misuse.

Thing is, I find it quite offensive to be perpetually lumped in with the dishonest and the self-indulgent. And it's not the first time in life, in a wider sense, that I've noticed a tendency to group those with disabilities - through no fault of their own - in with a section of society whose problems are somewhat more self-inflicted.

I'm being very careful what I say, it may be after all that a large part of my readership are just about to reach for their seventh double whisky, before heading out the door, toolkit in hand, for another night on-the-rob!

But I'd like to bet I'm not the only "vulnerable" resident who's growing tired of having my problems and needs likened to those of an ex-offender or a crack addict. And I can't be the only one concerned that the pool of resources available to help a disabled person live an independent life are equally as accessible to those whose problems stem from their own self-destructive actions

So I'm afraid I haven't been moved to save the next edition of Shropshire Council magazine from the violent assault I know is awaiting it, next time it pokes its bland and "appropriate" pages through my letterbox. And I certainly won't feel guilty as I dispose of its unread remains. It's left me feeling uneasy about our new council.

Mind you I'm not sure why I'm surprised . . . only a council could produce a magazine that is so inoffensive it ends up offending me!