Heat magazine apologises to Jordan for using disabled son on stic
Heat magazine yesterday came under attack from disability rights campaigners after the high profile celebrity weekly produced a sticker that unfavourably depicted the young disabled son of glamour model Katie Price.
Readers of the title were invited to peel off a sticker of Harvey Price, who is aged five and suffers from septo-optic dysplasmia, a rare condition which means he is visually impaired and has hormonal deficiencies.
Liz Sayce, the chief executive of RADAR, the disability rights body, said: “Unfortunately bullying of disabled people, especially children, is endemic. Mocking people in print because they are different gives strength to the bullies and entrenches prejudice. Heat magazine should know better.â€ÂÂ
Last night, in an attempt to avert a wider row, Mark Frith, the editor of Heat, said that “no offence was intended, but if any was caused we would like to apologiseâ€ÂÂ. He said that he would be writing a letter to Katie Price and her husband, singer Peter Andre, to repeat that personally.
The magazine’s sticker appears also to be a breach of the Press Complaints Commission Code, which states that the press must avoid “prejudicial or perjorative referenceâ€Â to “any physical or mental disabilityâ€ÂÂ. But the Commission would only investigate if it received a complaint from Harvey Price’s parents.
Yesterday, Katie Price â€â€Â better known as Jordan â€â€Â could not be reached for comment through her agents Can Associates. The child’s father is footballer Dwight Yorke, although that relationship has ended, and his mother has since married Andre.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission said that it could not comment on the specific item in the magazine, but made clear its disapproval in general terms. A spokeswoman said: “The media needs to show a need for awareness and sensitivity. Obviously the sort of society we hope to live in should be fair to everybodyâ€ÂÂ.
Heat had been attracting criticism throughout the day, after Times Online drew attention to the sticker on the Alpha Mummy blog. That in turn attracted a series of comments from readers, criticising the magazine’s decision to produce a sticker that could be taken by children to school or put up in the workplace.
article taken from ‘timesonline’