If they treated blacks in that way they would be slated as racist. Programme makers should have a social responsibility about these things. We want realistic portrayals, not stereotyped images.”Of Extreme Measures, he said: “I was amazed that they went into it without considering the impact it would have at all. Alastair Burt, the former minister for disabled people, wrote to Disney to complain about the merchandising of hunchback statues and bubblebaths linked with the film, which had caused “increased intolerance”, he said.Other nominations for “worst portrayals” include Thames TV’s The Bill for an episode in which a blind woman – played by a sighted actress who required lessons from the Royal National Institute for the Blind – is shown as the pathetic and helpless wife of a man who is murdering prostitutes.ITV’s Blind Date is also nominated for “the consistent absence of disabled people from the programme, reinforcing the idea of them as non-sexual.” Over the years, the programme has included elderly and non-white people, but those with disabilities have yet to make an appearance.Richard Rieser, co-ordinator of One in Eight, said film and TV producers were unthinkingly perpetuating stereotyped images of disabled people by using them as plot devices rather than as characters in their own right. Poacher tries to kill the puppies and his scarred face and speech impediment “reinforces the link between facial disfigurement and evil,” according to One in Eight.Disney was angered by the inclusion of Hunchback in last year’s awards but it later emerged that more than 100 members of the British Scoliosis Society, for sufferers from curvature of the spine, had complained of increased harrassment and name calling after the film was released. Organised by One in Eight, the disability pressure group, they are intended as a light- hearted dig at those who shape the media to think about how they portray the one in eight of the population who have some disability.One of last year’s winners in the “worst portrayal” category – Walt Disney for The Hunchback of Notre Dame – is nominated again this year for the character Poacher in 101 Dalmations. Ms Hurley and Mr Grant, Walt Disney Corporation, Blind Date and The Bill have all been singled out for humiliation in the Raspberry Ripple Awards.
Extreme Measures has been nominated for the worst portrayal of disabled people in the film category of the Raspberry Ripples because it suggests that people with injuries to their spines will do anything – even commit murder – to find a cure.The awards, first given last year, are backed by more than 100 celebrities including the actors Dame Judi Dench, Lindsay Duncan and Richard Wilson, the film-maker Sir David Puttnam and Charles Denton, chairman of the Arts Film Lottery Board and former head of drama at the BBC.

Now it features in the nominations for this year’s “disability Oscars” – awarded for the best and worst portrayals of disabled people in the media. The awards will embarrass some of the top names in showbusiness. Backed by a group of spinally injured people desperate for a cure, he carries out his evil work until exposed by a young, British medic, played by Hugh Grant. But Extreme Measures, which was produced by Liz Hurley, made the blood boil among disability groups. It was an idea to make the blood run cold.

An ageing doctor, played by Gene Hackman, has a mission to find a cure for people paralysed by spinal injuries, and conducts experiments on homeless people dragged off the streets. But Baghdad continued to deny that Iraq had anything to hide.The Republican majority leader in the Senate, Trent Lott, said he thought that Congress would support unilateral US military action against Iraq, though he added that this should be an option only “if the United Nations is not willing to act”.. Iraq had earlier defended movements of equipment and cameras at suspected weapons sites, saying that they were precautions against a US attack. “We are going to be firm and resolute in dealing with Saddam.

We are hoping for a diplomatic solution, and we are not talking about the military option at this stage,” said a Foreign Office source.Baghdad’s move to exclude Americans from taking part in UN inspection teams was widely seen as a response to a split in the UN Security Council over a US motion to stiffen sanctions against Iraq.Yesterday, Iraq prevented American inspectors from entering suspected weapons sites for the seventh day running, and the official newspaper of the ruling Ba’ath party said that anti-aircraft systems were on alert to shoot down “any hostile target, whatever its kind and nationality”. Whitehall sources insisted that action would be taken with the support of the security council members. He appealed to Russia, France and other members of the UN Security Council to preserve a united front in dealing with Iraq.George Robertson, Secretary of State for Defence, emphasised that the diplomatic pressure in the UN would seek to resolve the crisis but insisted that President Saddam had alienated France and Russia, the two members of the security council who were least hostile to him. “I hope a diplomatic solution will be found and I hope that he will retreat knowing that he is conflict with security council resolutions,” Mr Robertson said on Sky TV.Ministry of Defence sources confirmed that the use of Tornado jets, which were used in the Gulf War, was among the options being studied this weekend by Cabinet ministers.Mr Blair is keen to ensure that the US does not appear isolated. Mr Clinton was cautious, however, about advocating the use of force and continued the line pursued by senior US officials in recent days of insisting that the US wanted to work through the United Nations.