I, like many others, was deeply disappointed with the comment made by Heath Shaw on the weekend. I have waited this week for any kind of reprisal, backlash, conversation, anything. I'm still waiting.
I couldn't sit on my hands and do nothing because this is an important issue and one that should not be overlooked.
![Heath Shaw of the Giants apologised for his slur against Tom Papley.](/web/20170502190940im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/q/i/a/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvsmjj.png/1493190631949.jpg)
When Heath Shaw called Tom Papley a "f---ing r----d" on Saturday night and this comment was broadcast to the nation, I honestly do not believe that Heath intended to cause great offence in what he said. He intended a sledge at an opposition player.
What he doesn't know is how deeply offensive the R word is. This is why, unlike other media reports, I have deliberately chosen not to include it here. It is equally as offensive as any profanity and should not be repeated. It should not ever be used. It is a slur against people with disabilities and should be treated with the same disdain that any racial or homophobic slur would be.
![In hot water: Heath Shaw closes in on Luke Parker.](/web/20170502190940im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/q/e/y/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvsmjj.png/1493190631949.jpg)
I was very glad to see Heath issued an apology. And while I always take issue with any apology addressed to "anyone that took offence" rather than simply for the mistake, in context, the right sentiment was behind it.
The problem here lies with GWS and the AFL. If Shaw had, god forbid, said something racist, there would be pure outrage. And rightly so. But here, GWS and the AFL have been conspicuously silent. For that, I am deeply disappointed. And to be frank, hurt.
Hurt because people with disabilities often lack the ability to stand up for themselves and to articulate any objection to vitriol thrown their way. They are the very definition of a minority group and already subject to so much marginalisation in this society.
So, when incidents like this happen and good people with the power to do something, do nothing, it is devastating.
I don't have a disability but I have a voice. It is my duty, and everyone else with any sort of social conscience, to stand up for the voiceless.
Heath's comment was offensive and insensitive but it was said in a tense game situation, most likely without forethought. And that is the key problem with this word: it is used too casually because people don't understand how offensive it is. They are not educated that it should never be used, not even by accident.
On the other hand, officials at GWS and the AFL had the benefit of time to consider the incident, to consider the word, to consider the impact, and they chose to do nothing.
Here was an opportunity to draw a line, to make a stand, to make a deliberate point that this behaviour and this language is not acceptable within the club or the football community. And they chose to do nothing.
I will tell you the ramifications of this. I attended the St Kilda-Geelong game the very next afternoon. This was after a little media discussion and Heath's apology. I was sitting next to two St Kilda members who were repeatedly laughing and calling the umpires "f---ing r----d" to prove a point. The only point they proved was one of ignorance. These were two grown women, two women who should have known better, but didn't. They thought what they were doing was hilarious.
It wasn't. Then, the next day I went to university and a young man and his friend, both final year law students, sat behind me loudly discussing why they didn't think it was a "big deal". I also had to endure the stream of tweets defending Shaw's comments, dismissing any objection to them as "political correctness gone mad".
Then, we get the argument that perhaps there shouldn't be microphones on the field. This completely misses the point. The problem is not that it was broadcast, it's that it was said at all. To be quite honest, I'm glad we all heard it. This conversation needs to happen.
Sorry, where was the conversation about how this word is offensive, it is hurtful and it is discriminatory. It dehumanises and devalues people with disabilities and it needs to stop. Don't make this about microphones. Heath Shaw is not the victim here; yes, he made the mistake, but all the players know there are microphones on the field.
The victims here are those with disabilities that have to face this kind of degradation, discrimination and marginalisation on a daily basis.
The AFL handled the treatment of Adam Goodes so poorly, too afraid to make a proper stand for a minority group. And yet again, the AFL has let down a minority in a profound and public way by doing absolutely nothing. We have a game that on one hand prides itself on leading the way for equality; yet, in recent times has failed in so many ways.
Georgia McCormick is a final-year Law and Communications student at Monash University.
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