yes it is a fact that there are young disabled gay individuals who may have difficulty coming to terms with life as a severely disabled person, and maybe its true that the thought of life for someone in jackson's position would eventually or even quickly turn to suicide. However it is also true that people in this situation gay (or straight) find ways of leading useful productive lives. I'm not advocating that we take away the rights of an individual to determine what they are willing to accept in terms of quality of life. But I feel that Emmerdale has wasted the opportunity to really explore what has been a taboo subject, life as a disabled person, real life i.e, relationships love sex work etc., there is enough drama in all of that, and another thing why does the story line focus on the able bodied partner getting a life moving on to another partner, what about the disabled character. what attempt has been made to show his side of the story.
He seems to have been dumped in an adapted house and left to rot, his arms and legs don't work but his brain and mind do why not explore ways in which he could adapt to his new life. When able bodied the character was independent determined self asssured, and yes the accident would have a major effect on this for a while but inevitabley people's true nature surfaces. I believe emmerdale have missed the chance to show the public and perhaps importantly those affected by such tragedy that they can still have productive useful and dare I say it happy and fullfilled lives. I think it is wrong to follow this story line but it was inevitable I think and this is only my oppinion, that this is more to do with the incompatability of the 2 actors involved and the desire to chase ratings as in the sick cot death baby snatch story in E/E
I would have like to see Jackson move on find someone create a whole new life and yep maybe eventually after a little/lot of drama get back together with Aaron.
This really shows the power soaps have when they can lead a normally sane and possibly intellegent person to rant about makebelieve characters
Rich - 13 years ago
Having spent a short time on a psychiatric ward for problems of my own I fully understand that this once healthy happy content young gay man would be having difficulty with the fact that he will spend the rest of what could be a very long life having people around him as workers wiping him, feeding him - lifting him etc, and coming to the decision that what he used to be to what he is now would leave the prospects of a moments happiness impossible in this state. Not everyone would agree of course, life is life, but deciding to end ones own life is a fact of life, you need to refer to Arron's story where he was unable to come to terms with who he was/is. Not a single person on this planet has ever been able to choose the cards they are dealt and if it’s a life of misery despite others telling you how sacred etc etc it is still misery. The Jackson position is probably unimaginable even if you think it might be. Soap story makers sometimes get near the mark but this story like it or not must be a repeat of an event somewhere. I personally would love it if he started to get feeling back in his legs and arms and walked into the sunset with Arron, but this does not make drama especially appealing - I maybe many of us would like to see this type of story ending only because we would love to have the happy ending for ourselves. This story since Arron being gay started has had a great affect on me since there are many emotions which mirrored my own. The drama and the quality of acting has been award winning especially Danny Miller, right up there with the likes of John Thaw. Truly Fantastic, apart from the fact that he is very handsome. Soap is not responsible to us for everything if it were then we would turn off, most of the time they do take the moral view and the bad guy almost never gets away with crime.
Well done Emerdale, class mostly.
Wil - 13 years ago
This has been rumored for awhile. I was hoping the would give Jackson his own story line instead. There is so much they could do with this rather than just killing the guy off. Or, just send him away to do rehab someplace so they can bring him back. I am worried, given the popularity of the storyline, if this will send the wrong message to people. I know a lot of people hate this storyline now, but, it is very valuable in terms of visibility for gay people, people with disablities and the fact that there ARE gay people who are disabled.
yes it is a fact that there are young disabled gay individuals who may have difficulty coming to terms with life as a severely disabled person, and maybe its true that the thought of life for someone in jackson's position would eventually or even quickly turn to suicide. However it is also true that people in this situation gay (or straight) find ways of leading useful productive lives. I'm not advocating that we take away the rights of an individual to determine what they are willing to accept in terms of quality of life. But I feel that Emmerdale has wasted the opportunity to really explore what has been a taboo subject, life as a disabled person, real life i.e, relationships love sex work etc., there is enough drama in all of that, and another thing why does the story line focus on the able bodied partner getting a life moving on to another partner, what about the disabled character. what attempt has been made to show his side of the story.
He seems to have been dumped in an adapted house and left to rot, his arms and legs don't work but his brain and mind do why not explore ways in which he could adapt to his new life. When able bodied the character was independent determined self asssured, and yes the accident would have a major effect on this for a while but inevitabley people's true nature surfaces. I believe emmerdale have missed the chance to show the public and perhaps importantly those affected by such tragedy that they can still have productive useful and dare I say it happy and fullfilled lives. I think it is wrong to follow this story line but it was inevitable I think and this is only my oppinion, that this is more to do with the incompatability of the 2 actors involved and the desire to chase ratings as in the sick cot death baby snatch story in E/E
I would have like to see Jackson move on find someone create a whole new life and yep maybe eventually after a little/lot of drama get back together with Aaron.
This really shows the power soaps have when they can lead a normally sane and possibly intellegent person to rant about makebelieve characters
Having spent a short time on a psychiatric ward for problems of my own I fully understand that this once healthy happy content young gay man would be having difficulty with the fact that he will spend the rest of what could be a very long life having people around him as workers wiping him, feeding him - lifting him etc, and coming to the decision that what he used to be to what he is now would leave the prospects of a moments happiness impossible in this state. Not everyone would agree of course, life is life, but deciding to end ones own life is a fact of life, you need to refer to Arron's story where he was unable to come to terms with who he was/is. Not a single person on this planet has ever been able to choose the cards they are dealt and if it’s a life of misery despite others telling you how sacred etc etc it is still misery. The Jackson position is probably unimaginable even if you think it might be. Soap story makers sometimes get near the mark but this story like it or not must be a repeat of an event somewhere. I personally would love it if he started to get feeling back in his legs and arms and walked into the sunset with Arron, but this does not make drama especially appealing - I maybe many of us would like to see this type of story ending only because we would love to have the happy ending for ourselves. This story since Arron being gay started has had a great affect on me since there are many emotions which mirrored my own. The drama and the quality of acting has been award winning especially Danny Miller, right up there with the likes of John Thaw. Truly Fantastic, apart from the fact that he is very handsome. Soap is not responsible to us for everything if it were then we would turn off, most of the time they do take the moral view and the bad guy almost never gets away with crime.
Well done Emerdale, class mostly.
This has been rumored for awhile. I was hoping the would give Jackson his own story line instead. There is so much they could do with this rather than just killing the guy off. Or, just send him away to do rehab someplace so they can bring him back. I am worried, given the popularity of the storyline, if this will send the wrong message to people. I know a lot of people hate this storyline now, but, it is very valuable in terms of visibility for gay people, people with disablities and the fact that there ARE gay people who are disabled.