Thursday, April 09, 2009

Blind leading the blind

What do you find yourself thinking about on those occasions when you wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep? Sometimes it's the strangest things. Freya is teething at the moment and so tends to wake in the night crying. After getting up to settle her, I found I couldn't get back to sleep as my mind starts to ponder some of life's questions. Tonight my mind decided to mull over this little engima...

Those of you who also have young children will more than likely be familiar with the BBC channel CBeebies. One of the more recent additions to the fine range of programmes on CBeebies is called Me too! set in the fictional city of Riverseafingal which is a kind of composite city made up of bits of cities from around the UK. Amongst the array of characters is Rudi who runs a fruit and veg stall on the market. Now the first time I saw Rudi, I thought "he's not a very good actor! He's not even looking at the woman he's supposed to be talking to...". I then I realised there was a good reason for that. He's blind. But what confused me is that at no point do they refer to him being blind. He goes about his business, selling fruit and veg and exploring the confusing hybrid town that is Riversea Fingal as if he can see perfectly well. This confuses me (it's even keeping me awake at night!) so surely it's going to confuse pre-schoolers.

I wish I could get back to sleep.

3 comments:

enn said...

I think you'll find that adults are far more easily confused...now sleep tight :)

cam said...

Lol..true enn.

I think the producers saw no need to emphasise the fact that he is blind.

Why make a point of it when there is no need.

I have been told that he uses a white stick on occasions on the show which I would imagine would prompt children to ask their parents why.

Donna Gorey said...

Ha ha glad that I am not the only one waking up in the middle of the night with random thoughts about silly childrens TV programmes. It's usually the theme tunes which enter my head first. "Me Too" is a favourite.In the Night Garden is another. In real life Mr and Mrs Pontipine would be investigated by social services and Makka Pakka would receive treatment for his OCD.

 
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