In a staggering miscalculation of the nation's youth, a
British kids TV programme called
Blue Peter ran an article in 1983 about a
Cerebral Palsy sufferer called Joey Deacon.
Rather than being
inspired by this
heartwarming tale of a
disabled man who had struggled all his life to come to terms with his
disability and managed to write a book about it, British
children for the next few years could be heard screaming 'Jooooeeyyyyyy' at each other, hitting the backs of their hands together, and generally rolling around in
playgrounds in an attempt to imply Cerebral Palsy amongst their peers.
To this day, the word 'Joey' is still used by children to mean '
disabled', '
handicapped' or just as a general
insult.