McGeever: 'I want Lizzie to inspire'

Blind actress Kitty McGeever has said that she wants her character in Emmerdale to inspire sighted people.

McGeever has been cast as ex-convict Lizzy Lakely, the first permanent blind character in a British soap.

She told The Mirror: "Lizzie is a loveable rogue - people can't help but like her and she couldn't be less of a victim, which is what we wanted.

"I hope it will be inspirational to sighted people who'll say that she really doesn't expect to be treated any differently."

She added: "Because I've been sighted and non-sighted, I know it can be awful when you meet blind people because you never quite know the etiquette.

"I admit it, I used to run a mile if I saw a blind person but we're no different to anybody else - we're people whose eyes don't work, that's all."

McGeever went blind as a result of diabetic retinopathy around the time of the death of her son Felix from a terminal illness.