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We had an empassioned email through today about the awkward situation in the Big Brother house from Lizzy, a student at Durham University.

we've been following BB9 here in the Ouch office and noted that Mario has become Mikey's self appointed guide dog. He appears to be smothering the poor blind fella to the point where it's seemingly difficult for him to strike out on his own, be independent and make solid bonds with the other housemates. I'd have said somethign by now had it been me but our man is staying remarkably quiet.

Anyhoo, here's the email. Thanks for mailing us Lizzy.

Without getting into a discussion about the merits of Big Brother, something ridiculous is happening within the show.

There's a man on it, Mikey, who is blind. Then there is Mario, who is, as far as I'm aware, fully able bodied and likes to inform everyone of his incredible
managerial skills. Anyway, Mario seems to think that Mikey is not just blind but is infact incapable of anything at all. It would appear that MarioÌýdoes
not have malicious intentions, heÌýis justÌýignorant and thinks that Mikey does in fact need a babysitter. However his protective behaviour is getting increasingly
more suffocating.

In a recent episode, the housemates were required to play a musical instrument. Mario decided that Mikey should play the triangle or the drums, because
he was blind and thisÌýmade him incapable of playing anything else. This is ignoring the fact that for some of the instruments, such as the flute, you cannot
really see the keys when playing them. Perhaps it was reading the music thatÌýMario was concerned about, but presumably Big Brother had taken this into
account - they wouldn't want to be accused of being inaccessible to the disabled.

The really annoying part of this is that as far as I'm aware, Mikey produces music for a living. I should think that someone who produces music is perfectly
capable of playingÌývarious instruments. Similarly, Mikey in fact helped one of the abled bodied housemates to play an instrument because she was struggling.
He later told Big Brother how keen he'd been to try out that instrument, calling it by its name (which I don't know, it's quite obscure), hardly the actions
of someone who cannot manage anything other than the triangle.

Normally Mikey seems to take Mario's behaviour in his stride, but this time he did point it out, informing Big Brother that he'd had to play the triangle
because apparently blind people can't play instruments. It was difficult to watch a man of notable musicalÌýtalent having to play a triangle as a result
of misconceptions based upon his disability.
The number of times Mario has informed everyone that Mikey is blind is impressive. It seems that Mario needs to refer to it at regular intervals, perhaps
he's worried that Mikey has forgotten he's blind and has to be reminded of it. Mikey is a pretty outgoing person and does not appear to have any quarms
about asking for help if he requires it. He doesn't need someone to look after him, if he needed that, Big Brother would have provided it.

Leave a comment or email us directly ouch@bbc.co.uk - unless you're trying to sel us bodily enhancement patches or tablets.