Criticism Abounds Over "The Undateables" TV Series

(The Guardian)

April 10, 2012

LONDON, ENGLAND– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] As marketing moves go, Channel 4 has hit a near impressive level of crass in its promotion of The Undateables, a series following people with disabilities in their quest for love. This is a title that looks bad on paper but even worse when put on a billboard, where towering images of people with a facial disfigurement or a wheelchair have the title Undateable emblazoned next to them. You do wonder why Channel 4 didn’t go the whole hog and just use the title “You’re weird and no one wants to have sex with you”.

According to Channel 4, the title of The Undateables refers to society’s preconceptions — although I’d argue that it’s optimistic to think this sort of analysis has gone through the mind of many drivers who’ve passed the ad on their morning commute. Most will have taken the branding at face value — that disabled does mean asexual. Rather than dispelling the myths around relationships and disability, this marketing is more likely to have entrenched them.

That’s a pity, not least because for the most part the show is done beautifully. Despite a voiceover that sometimes verges on patronising (“First EVER date!”), when those involved are left to speak for themselves we get an honest, personal depiction of what are universal experiences.

This seems to be the point the show is simultaneously missing and making. Viewers are told from the opening that they’re about to see a group of “extraordinary singletons” when in fact we see the opposite: six single people who happen to have a disability.

Entire article:
The Undateables? Disability rights, but Channel 4 wrongs
http://tinyurl.com/ide0410123a
Why is the undatables unwatchable (European Disability Forum)
http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=13855&thebloc=29719
The dating world of disabled people (BBC News)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17584953
Going out on a date, complete with TV crew (Guardian)
http://tinyurl.com/ide0410123d
Are disabled people really ‘undateable’? (Guardian)
http://tinyurl.com/ide0410123e