ANGRY MOB

In a sneering article entitled ‘Not a stick in sight as Heather Mills ‘legs it’ up a ladder to open her café’, the Mail on Sunday printed an article which poked fun at Heather Mills' disability and in doing so insinuated that having a limb amputated is not really a disability at all. Reading the article by Jo Macfarlane you could be mistaken in thinking that Heather Mills had merely suffered a grazed shin when she was knocked down by a police motorcycle in 1993 and not crushed ribs, a punctured lung and amputation of her left leg below the knee.

As anyone who has ever had as much as a sprained or broken ankle will know, the pain can be excruciating and managing daily activities can be incredibly difficult and exhausting. When someone loses a limb life becomes even more difficult though this is on a permanent basis. With the use of a prosthetic replacement, the difficulties do not stop and often wearing a prosthetic limb especially on legs can cause pain irritation and blistering.

In spite of losing a limb, Heather Mills continues to live a full and active life and plays an important role in raising money for charities for those with similar disabilities as well as campaigning for a number of animal rights charities.. In addition, her optimistic and positive outlook remains an inspiration to others.

However, according to the Daily Mail, that Heather Mills was able to climb a ladder to the roof of her new restaurant is clearly evidence that she’s been faking all along.

Clearly Jo Macfarlane does not think that an amputated limb is justification enough to qualify for the term disabled. Perhaps she is of The Daily Mail opinion that there are much worse disabilities such as fat knees?