I have a fairly high tolerance for tasteless humour, but even I have my limits. I would love to know who at Metro thought it was a good idea to put this cartoon on the front page of this morning’s edition. Bear in mind that at the time this went to print, all that was known was that Professor Hawking was seriously ill, although subsequently it was announced that he was expected to make a full recovery.
Maybe I’m expecting too much from Associated Newspapers (they are the publishers of the Daily Mail, after all) but I think this cartoon is an incredibly sad reflection of attitudes to the disabled which, I suspect, many in society still hold. Stephen Hawking is Cambridge University’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (a position once held by Isaac Newton). He has been honoured with an Albert Einstein Award and the Wolf Prize in Physics. He has made significant breakthroughs in numerous areas of science. He has written five bestselling books.
However to “Brook”, he is just a man in a wheelchair with a funny computer voice. Sigh.