Charity hails 'Emmerdale's blind character

Disabled charity Leonard Cheshire Disability has commended Emmerdale's decision to sign the first blind actress to be cast in a UK soap.

It was yesterday announced that 41-year-old Kitty McGeever is to take on the role of Lizzie Lakely, an old friend of Lisa Dingle's (Jane Cox).

John Knight, the charity's assistant director of policy and campaigns, said of the move: "We applaud the decision by Emmerdale to champion the country's first ever blind soap actress. It is a breath of fresh air in an area where disabled actors and actresses are totally underrepresented."

He added: "We look forward to many other areas of television following their lead. There are around 10 million disabled adults in Britain at the moment - a fact that is clearly not reflected in programming generally across the networks."

At the end of last year, Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks cast Guillain-Barré sufferer Kelly-Marie Stewart as its first prominent disabled character.

In January, EastEnders boss Diederick Santer revealed plans to introduce more disabled supporting artistes to the Walford-based soap, with a view to potentially casting a disabled actor or actress in a regular role.