Coronation Street's first disabled actor has said disabled people were killed by the government’s Covid failure. Speaking at a Labour Party Conference fringe event Cherylee Houston wept as she said 'we’re not seen as human', adding: “It makes me want to cry every time”.
Cherylee, 48, who has played Izzy Armstrong on the ITV soap for 12 years, blasted Tory ministers for failing to provide a British Sign Language interpreter at daily press conferences. That is despite six in 10 people who died with the virus being disabled.
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“People were dying because of that lack of information,” she told the Mirror’s Disabled Britain: Doing it for Ourselves fringe event at Labour conference. “It was just outrageous that people were being left to die.”
Shadow Minister for Disabled People Vicky Foxcroft said she had asked “numerous” times for BSL at daily briefings in 2020. “It’s not rocket science - you’d get things right if you just went and did it,” the Labour MP said.
BSL was provided by the BBC but not in the £2.6m No10 briefing room. A group of 276 deaf people took the government to court over the policy on Friday.
Cherylee has used a wheelchair since she was 23 due to the rare tissue disorder, Ehlers Danlos Type III hypermobility type. She has featured in The Bill, Holby City, Emmerdale and the cult comedy series Little Britain.
She said: “When Covid happened and the nation was addressed, there were no sign language interpreters, there was no easy read. So immediately, members of our community weren’t told this information and people were dying because of that lack of information.”
She added: “It was just outrageous that people were being left to die. People were not being told there was a killer disease out there. In Scotland, from Day One they had a sign language interpreter.”
Her voice catching with emotion, she went on: “It makes me want to cry every time. “Because if we were put on that agenda, we wouldn’t have had that many people die.
“That’s abhorrent. The emotion comes because it’s that frustration that we’re not seen as human.”
Mirror guest editor Rachel Charlton-Dailey, who chaired the panel, warned Covid was not finished for disabled people. “For a lot of people the pandemic’s over but we’re still having to be really careful,” she said.
Ms Foxcroft blasted delays to the £150 payment for disabled people. “No one has got the £150 cost of living payment yet. What an absolute disgrace,” she said.
And the shadow minister said disabled people should not simply be pushed into "s*** jobs". Disabled people who attended the fringe event shared stories of how they had been marginalised by society.
Cherylee said “disgusting” cuts to support “have gone and gone and gone - it’s not liveable any more”. Anna Morell, 48, of Disability Rights UK and the Mirror’s Dis Life columnist, agreed: “Just give us the f***ing money. It’s about dignity and independence.”
And Cherylee told heartbreaking tales of people who got “stuck” in the system after cuts. “People went from 24 hour care to sitting in incontinence pads - choosing, when do you decide to go and wee because nobody’s coming for another four hours,” she said.
One friend, a double amputee from war, was told to seek support from neighbours who she had reported for abuse. Another, said Cherylee, was a woman who used to go to festivals. But “then these cuts happened and she was sat in an incontinence pad in her own home.
“And when she fought back to get more, she said she had three people in her home with clipboards, watching her go to the toilet and shower. That’s not human - that’s not how we should be treated.” She added: “We’re now fighting for basic human rights that we fought for for many many centuries.”
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