‘What would you do?’ Reactions to staged abuse of clerk with DS
May 20th, 2010On a segment of ABC’s “What Would You Do?” that aired Wednesday, customers in a Brooklyn grocery store found themselves trapped in a checkout line behind rude shoppers who berated a bagger with Down syndrome. The customers didn’t know that the clerk and the rude shoppers were all actors. Hidden cameras recorded everyone’s reactions to abusive language that the show described as happening “all too often” in real life.
“You’re absolutely retarded, dude! You have to go faster,” an actress shouted.
While some customers ignored the abuse, others spoke up in defense of the clerk, played by actor Josh Eber. “He’s a person, the same as you and I, with feelings,” said a woman identified as “Karen”, a teacher who has taught children with disabilities. “Everybody deserves an education. Everybody deserves a job, and everybody deserves a chance in this life. And you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Madeleine Will of the National Down Syndrome Society underscored the hurtfulness of insults like the word “retard.” She called on the public to speak up against verbal abuse.
“When we’re silent, our silence condones the language,” she said. “It’s important to say, again and again, this is wrong, this is not fair, this is not how we treat other people.”
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May 20th, 2010 at 3:25 am
My favorite hero was the big brother who stepped up from the back of the store.
Josh Eber was excellent in the role of the grocery bagger, and I enjoyed his comment: “It’s not right to treat people with Down syndrome like that,” he told us. “No one puts us down. No one.”
It was good to be introduced to Elvis, the grocery clerk who had been working at the store location of this What Would You Do segment for a decade. I wonder what effect this episode will have on his working life — maybe he will be treated with more respect now that he is a celebrity.