When Cerrie Burnell landed a role as the new presenter on CBeebies, she was thrilled.
But within weeks of appearing on TV screens hosting Do And Discover and The Bedtime Hour, her joy at her new job was soon tainted by sadness.
The 29-year-old presenter was disappointed when she heard some parents of young viewers had complained to the BBC, claiming she was scaring their children.
Cerrie, who was born with only one hand, was upset by some of the comments, especially when one father said he wanted to ban his daughter from watching CBeebies because seeing Cerrie might give her nightmares.
Despite the furore and initial upset to Cerrie, she insists she is glad it happened because it highlights the prejudice faced by disabled people all the time.
The East Sussex-born presenter told The Sun: ‘I think it’s a positive thing these comments have been made – as people are now talking about disability. That has to be good.
‘I am not amazed or surprised at what people have been saying, nor have I cried or felt dismayed – it is not a personal campaign against me.
‘Sadly, disabled people do face discrimination every day – and this is just an example of those prejudices.’
Cerrie has been defended by parenting and disability groups, who have applauded the BBC for employing a disabled person.
She said: ‘People are not used to seeing it enough – that is why you have got this kind of fear.
‘If disabled people were represented on TV more, I don’t think there would have been this reaction.’
Responding to some parents’ comments she should wear a prosthetic hand, Cerrie explained: ‘That (the prosthetic hand) was more of a disability than having one hand. Having a prosthetic hand was heavy and quite annoying when you were pretending to be a butterfly.’
Cerrie Burnell, a disabled CBeebies TV presenter, has found herself the subject of a disturbing online campaign by parents who say she will upset their children.
Here, ALISON LAPPER, a 43-year-old artist, who was born with no arms and shortened legs, gives an impassioned riposte. Alison became one of Britain’s most recognisable champions of people with disabilities after posing for a sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant, exhibited in Trafalgar Square.
For all those parents who have got themselves worked up about disabled TV presenter Cerrie Burnell, I have a question. Ask yourselves this. Why would your children be scared?
What would they be scared of, precisely?
Children are beautiful in that they are born with a clean slate – they’re not born with prejudices, they are taught those by adults who should know better.
Yes, they notice things like this, but if you explain to them that a person has one arm, that she was born like it, and that it’s just one of those things, they say, OK, fine.
How is the child who is told they can’t watch the programme because of the one-armed presenter going to react when they see a disabled person in the street? Have their parents thought about that?
The child will come to think that disability is to be shunned or feared, and they will react accordingly.
And what about the soldiers serving in Afghanistan who lose limbs and come back without arms and legs?
Have these parents even considered how their children might react to them? I am shocked and really sad about the things said about Ms Burnell, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
It just proves how narrow-minded some people still are, how much fear there is of disability, even today.
And why the anonymity on these message boards? If you want to make a point, why not come out and say it?
These people are hiding behind their prejudices. It’s petty and, frankly, if a parent doesn’t have the skill needed to explain to a child about disabilities, it says more about their own inadequacies than it does about their children.
I see that at least one parent who made comments this week believes Ms Burnell’s appointment was made out of political correctness, out of the BBC’s determination to show ‘minorities’ on CBeebies. That’s absolute rubbish.
Think about it. How often do you see a disabled person on television, an actor, or a comedian or a presenter? It’s still very unusual.
Ethnic minories may benefit from our politically correct culture, but, believe me, disabled people most certainly do not.
If Cerrie Burnell had been black or from any other ethnic minority, do you think anyone would have dared say the same things about her? Of course not.
If a person had been that rude about someone of an ethnic minority, they would be called a racist.
But the disabled are simply not granted the same kind of protection by the conventions of modern society. The sad thing is that a person’s disability should not be an issue.
It shouldn’t have to be about quotas, or political correctness – if a disabled person is right for the job, they should get it, as simple as that.
I’ve been reading on the message boards suggestions that Ms Burnell wear a prosthetic arm to make her more ‘normal’, whatever that is. But if she doesn’t want to wear a prosthetic arm, why should she do so just to fit in with an image of what some parents want their children to see?
Sadly, I know all about prejudice, I’ve had it all my life. People say things about me all the time. I can often hear what they say – they don’t even try to keep it out of earshot.
But even though I’m used to it, it still blows my mind when it happens. How can people be so frightened?
I’ve thought about it a lot, but I still don’t know why there is such fear of disabled people.
There was a strong kneejerk reaction to the sculpture of me when it went up in Trafalgar Square.
It was slated, of course. People only started reacting more positively when they heard my personal story.
I was rejected by my mother and grew up in a home for disabled children. That’s one bit of progress we’ve made. They don’t lock us away out of sight in institutions any more.
After the initial negative comments about the sculpture, I had a really amazing reaction to it from people who actually went to see it. I was down there quite a bit with film crews and so on and I’d be approached by people, young and old, who said they loved it, and thought it was amazing.
But on a day-to-day level, I still get all the prejudices. There is something about being disabled that makes people say the most impertinent things to you, and about you.
For example, when I was pregnant with my son Parys, now nine, people would come up to me while I was out and about in the street or at the supermarket.
When a woman is pregnant the usual question is something like, is it a girl or a boy? With me they would say: ‘Is the baby going to be like you?’
Or they’d ask: ‘How was the baby conceived?’ I’d reply: ‘I’m not going to tell you the facts of life.’
It’s a good job I have a sense of humour, because in my situation you need one. Parys notices people talking about me more than I do.
He knows what people are like and it really upsets him. He’s had to learn a hard lesson.
The parents who have opposed Cerrie Burnell’s appearances on TV are helping to ingrain prejudice against disability – the kind of prejudice which is fuelling this terrible modern phenomenon of ‘disability genocide’, in the sense that a woman can look at her pregnancy scan and if the baby is disabled she can choose to have a termination.
I know which way my mother would have gone if she’d had the choice. I’m just grateful they didn’t have those scans back then.
I would hope that things are getting better, slowly, but this sad business about Cerrie Burnell confirms to me that we still have an awfully long way to go.
Holes In The Sky 