As a disabled person, as someone who has been burnt by another person and had multiple skin grafts, and as someone who has spent the majority of his life advocating about violence against disabled people, I can barely describe how much this issue has affected me. Yes, I was too upset to take the cal...

Joffaboy,
You don't have the right to tell me to do ... anything.
Including telling me which footy team I can or can't support.

Godwin's law doesn't apply when the discussion has previously involved the topic of eugenics... which is the framework of much of the anti-disability rhetoric we've already seen on this thread.

maverick wrote:I am glad you have seen fit to help with all our moral compasses.

Seems like a lot of you need it.

I didn't connect Clint to the Holocaust. What I said is that given the absolute lack of ethics I've seen from so many people (both in messages and on the Board) I have lost all faith in this group of people's morals. And I said that I wondered what degree Gail's apologism for the club would extend. ...

I won't be sharing any conversation I have with anyone at the club.

But I will say I fear for the moral compass of some people here. <edit for privacy> I wonder if Hitler had played for the Saints, would you be a Holocaust denier?

Here's another reference:
http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/humanrights/ ... r/2000/05b
"One study, for example, published in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology found that twenty five per cent of people with cerebral palsy who underwent autopsy had been murdered."

I have an online petition to start disability awareness training for AFL footballers. Not just St Kilda. Feel free to sign. https://www.change.org/petitions/demand-disability-awareness-training-for-afl-footballers And yes, I've been in touch with 50 people already, and disability organizations, abou...

When we talk about issues of discrimination... for instance, when we talk about homophobic slurs... we often see someone self-identify as gay, and others saying they believe in gay rights. Note that hasn't happened here. We haven't seen a single person self-identify as disabled, and we haven't seen ...

The key issue here is that a St Kilda player, Clint Jones, set fire to a little person. That was a criminal act, even if he isn't charged... and the whole objectification of little people, and the demeaning attitude of so many of you towards little people in general, is part of the culture of hate, ...

Devilhead Think of all the stereotypes associated with being disabled... being devalued, being less than, (I don't need to rehash the stereotypes and prejudices... many of them are reflected here) ... few people choose to be disabled, and most struggle with disability identity at some stage or anoth...

Gringo
I am very sorry that this happened to you.
I absolutely condemn his actions.
I condemn violence in all its forms.
I hope you went to the police. And I hope he was charged.
People who commit violent crimes should be in jail.

Kickit, Regarding the rate of violence against disabled people - there is a litany of evidence. It is such a big problem that Women With Disabilities Australia has been calling for a Royal Commission or Official Public Inquiry into Violence Against People with Disabilities in Australia for over a ye...

Hi Merchant Thanks for your question. I didn't say Clint Jones HATED disabled people. Never. What I said is that there is bias in the selection of the victim. That is what "disability hate crime" laws are. Some people just call them "Disability bias crimes" meaning that there jus...

Plugger, The reason why I think it is a hate crime is because it may well have happened to Saints players, BUT the only non-Saints player who was targetted was the one everyone would have thought was the most vulnerable, and the one who was brought there to be mocked, laughed at, and just to be a so...

Here's another story, written by a little person who identifies as disabled, who also says that some people would call Blake's case a disability hate crime. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/03/discrimination-for-short-statured-people Part of the article states"If the St Kilda p...

Fireman, Yes it is a hate crime. Unfortunately, it is one that happens far too often. Here's a link to another hate crime which was initially mis-labeled a 'prank' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9009559/Dwarf-left-paralysed-after-being-thrown-by-drunken-Rugby-fan.html And as you can se...

Sainter K, I didn't tarnish the Saints players. I didn't write the article. I shared it because people on here feel I was the only one saying it was a disability hate crime. I'm not, but the level of hostility I experience, and the hate language towards little people here, is plenty of evidence that...

Great news. While all of you have spent your time criticizing me, and making out as if I am the only one who could possibly see this as a disability hate crime, disability organizations across the country are now responding to it and framing it this way. I'll quote from a magazine written by and for...

That would be really bad.
Because repeatedly targetting of the victim sounds an awful like what happens in....
A HATE CRIME!

The reason some people don't want to claim "disability", as a personal identity, is because of the prejudiced attitudes which permeate through society about it... many of the same biases are on display here. That does not mean that they are not entitled to legal protections under disabilit...

Skeptic, you raise a good question. What I am doing is highlighting the fact that there are two victims in hate crimes: the indivdiual who has a particular act done towards them (such as being set alight) and the broader identity community to which they belong (in this case, disabled people) whose r...

A victim's statement regarding the incident is obviously one important factor to consider. However, that is not the sole basis of determining whether a crime can indeed be considered a hate crime. Far from it. In fact, most victims are far too upset to label an act a hate crime, for fear of retaliat...

That would be a protest, Satchmo, not a hate crime.
Where is the criminal act?
For it to be a hate crime, it would have to be a crime first.
Like, say, setting a person on fire.
Only a total scumbag would do that.

Well thanks everyone for your support.

I am very sad that I am not in Melbourne right now. If I was, I would be at St Kilda Football Club tomorrow, with the Clint Jones run-out top I bought through the Saints auctions, when he was first drafted. I would be burning it in public.