Say what?

Yup, that’s right, in the name of comedy Jimmy Carr has described people with dwarfism as abortions that made it. He says a lot of other nasty stuff about other disabilities too. 

Wait a minute, haven’t we been here before?

Yes, you’re quite right, we have been here before. Back in 2019/2020 we approached Buxton Opera House and asked them to consider not accommodating Jimmy Carr in their programming due to the damage his material does. We also asked friends and family if they would help by asking them to get in touch with Buxton Opera House too. Many of you did just that. Thank you! Unfortunately, Buxton Opera House were extremely dismissive to, well pretty much all of us really. The management failed to engage constructively with any of us at that time.

Then the pandemic happened and we all just focused on staying alive right?

So what’s happening now?

Fast forward to today and we find that Buxton Opera House are once again hosting Jimmy Carr, having taken none of the feedback seriously. In-fact (and this may astound you), with the exception of ours, Buxton Opera House say they never received any complaints regarding Jimmy Carr in the past! Of course, we know this isn’t true as many of you shared the wholy in-adequate response they gave to your complaints however, this is where we find ourselves. Rather strangely, Buxton Opera House also contradict themselves by also having implied that the other complaints they received don’t count as complaints as they were related to our complaint! So in effect, they say your complaints haven’t counted. We wonder what their perception of a petition must be?!

Let that sink in, a charitable organisation in our area, recieving public money from multiple sources, have decided that ours, and your voices (there were many of you) don’t matter to them!

We have tried repeatedly to get Buxton Opera House to engage with us in a professional manner. We have asked them on multiple occassions to meet us however, they say ‘we don’t need to meet you or your son to understand disability’. Hmmm.

We have asked the team at Buxton Opera House 37 questions in total, dating from our first correspondence in 2019 through to today. They haven’t answered a single one.

Buxton Opera House claim they cannot stop Mr Carr performing at their venue. This is not true. They can indeed decline any performer the opportunity to use their venue.

The management team have now deemed this matter closed, just because they say so. Well, we don’t think it is. We will do whatever we can to protect our son, his brother and his wider community from prejudice, discrimination and abuse. We don’t just see this as being related to our son by the way. Jimmy Carr’s material punches down on all sorts of minorities and disadvantaged people.

Can you please take a few moments to help our son, your friend?

If you’re reading this, it’s likely because we’ve asked you to because we’d like your help. Even if you don’t know our son, just imagine someone calling your child “an abortion that made it”.

We need your help to make Buxton Opera House understand it’s not just two parents of one child with dwarfism that doesn’t want them to host acts such as Jimmy, it’s all his extended family, friends and the wider community. Please stand with us.

To help stop Buxton Opera House deny they’re recieving complaints, we’ve created a petition, please sign it.

We’ve also written two template letters, one for those who have complained previously, and one for those who are complaining for the first time.

We hope you could use the appropriate one (edit/customise if you want), or even compose your own if you can, and send to Buxton Opera House to help us make the case that what they’re doing isn’t good. We’ve also listed some updated contact emails and postal addresses to make it as easy as possible for you. If you’d like to help make an even louder voice, then please feel free to share this with other friends you may have. If you own a business or organisation, or know anyone that does and would like to help weight to the cause, please ask them to get in touch with Buxton Opera House too.

Given that Buxton Opera House have tried to claim they haven’t recieved any complaints in the past, we’d also appreciate you keeping us up to date on your complaint and their response. This will help us collate information to the authorities that regulate the managment at the Opera House.

Aren’t we over reacting here?
We appreciate there may be some people who think this is an over reaction to a ‘joke’. Just take a minute to think about someone calling your child, relative or friend an ‘abortion that made it’.

The dwarfism community face an unprecedented amount of prejudice and ridicule on a daily basis.

Dwarves are still the butt of jokes. It’s one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice.
– Peter Dinklage. 

Following members of the dwarfism community online exposes a host of negative daily experiences and ridicule. People with dwarfism even face violence. A report by the Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research into the experiences of people with dwarfism exposes some depressing statistics.

Let us be clear, this is NOT about censorship. This is about trying to make the world a more tolerant and kinder place for people with dwarfism, other disabilities, our children and community as a whole. We want a more welcoming and inclusive community for all. We are in 2023 after all.

If you’ve read this far and would like to help, thank you. Click the button below to go to the template letters and contacts and stand with us against discrimination.