Students have been told to wave ‘jazz hands’ instead of clapping at a university union to avoid triggering anxiety problems.
Officers at the University of Manchester Students’ Union argued that the loud noise of clapping and cheering can also trouble those with sensory issues.
A motion was put forward by the union’s liberation and access officer Sara Khan to replace it with British Sign Language clapping, also known as ‘jazz hands’.
The union decided to make the switch and to ‘encourage student groups and societies to do the same, and to include BSL clapping as a part of inclusion training’.
The motion was passed last Thursday at the union’s first meeting of the academic year, reported student newspaper The Mancunion.
‘If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands’ – that’s going to have to go now, isn’t it?
The issue was discussed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, with presenter Piers Morgan saying: ‘”If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” – that’s going to have to go now, isn’t it?
‘If you’re happy and you know it and you want to clap your hands, be careful – it may trigger anxiety. So, if you’re happy, don’t clap your hands, children.’
Commenting on Twitter, Ricky French said: ‘Absolutely ridiculous. In ten years’ time we won’t be able to think or breathe without offending someone somewhere!’
Another viewer said: ‘I suffer from anxiety and depression, the ability to clap and cheer causes euphoria that is crucial wellbeing! The world has gone crazy! Absolute tosh!’
The National Union of Students first started using ‘jazz hands’ in 2015, when delegates at its Women’s Conference were asked to stop clapping to avoid anxiety.
Speaking at the time, Nona Buckley-Irvine, the then general secretary at the London School of Economics union, said: ‘I’m relatively new to this and it did feel odd at first.
‘But once you’ve used jazz hands a couple of times it becomes a genuinely nice way to show solidarity with a point and it does add to creating a more inclusive atmosphere.’