It is without a doubt a sign a privilege when someone can write a blog post and, five years later, claim ‘that’s not what I meant.’ And yet, that is exactly what Toby Young did last night after being appointed to the board of the governments Office of Students.
For over five years the post by Young has stood, insisting that including children with disabilities in mainstream education is somehow responsible for a dumbing down of Western Society. Young writes that wheelchair ramps in schools are a sign of “ghastly, politically correct’ inclusiveness and compares a student who may need accommodations of an exam to a ‘functionally illiterate troglodyte with a mental age of six’.
After the announcement of his position yesterday that blog post was taken off the internet very quickly.
And then it was published again. This time, with an addendum.
Apparently, we misunderstood Young.
I could, and no doubt others will, go on about a man who holds such views about students with disabilities has no place in establishing education. Young’s comments, the recant, and the addendum points to yet another person in our government who refuses to take any sort of responsibility for his actions. Rather, it’s our fault we cannot read what was intended from the words on the page.
Deflection has become a go to tactic for this government. Like May’s insistence last month of ‘that’s not what [Mr. Hammond] said,’ this is a government that insists on being cheap with words, changing their meaning to whatever suits their agenda next.
Young had five years to clarify his position on students with special educational needs. He did nothing. Now, just after being appointed to a new position he decides we’ve been ‘misunderstanding him’ all along.
Or is this some sort of New Year’s resolution to resort to clarity by blaming Young’s readers for his poor word choice years ago?
A government who refuses to be careful with it’s words is one that will damage its own people. We have seen this repeatedly in the Tory’s negation of the dementia tax, their flip flopping in Brexit negotiations, not to mention their back tracking on a myriad of other issues.
“That isn’t what I meant… I never said that. You misunderstood.”
But it is right there, on my screen. And the fact that your ‘misunderstanding’ doesn’t raise more red flags for those in power speaks volumes for our government.
No one is fooled when a writer tries to blame his audience. Words matter. And if you are fortunate enough to be in power, the burden of how words, ideas, and even metaphors should make you extremely cautious of the impact you are creating.
Perhaps Mr. Young would do well to heed the instructions of my school teacher as he attempts to improve our education system: Use better words.
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