Well done George

Saturday’s Herald had a long interview with George Hawkins, and in it they touch on the his stroke in the 1990s and in relation to performing in the House, George says “I don’t think people should make allowances for disabilities”. Well said.

Helen Clark’s defence of Hawkins on the basis he once had a stroke and that is why he is targeted must have been the most embarassing and patronising thing he had to endure. He doesn’t think it should give him a free pass, but she does. She really goes to the bottom of the barrel when under pressure.

I can relate a wee bit to the situation Hawkins is in. I have not had a stroke but as an infant I had something ‘wrong’ and was unable to speak at all. It took over ten years of speech therapy from two until fifteen to overcome my ‘disability’ and even today I still can have problems with certain words, or in certain situations.

But let me tell you if I was ever a Minister under fire for not performing in the House, and my leader leapt to my defence on the basis of having a speech defect, I would be so furious against them I would have to be physically restrained from doing them injury. It would just be the most awful embarrassing thing to endure.