All of a sudden it seems Eastenders has gone from ignoring the fact that 10% of the population has some sort of disability to embracing the idea head on, at least in the child population of the programme anyway.
First enter Ben, son of Phil Mitchell, who has a hearing impairment [though I thought he was surprisingly good at hearing even at a whisper when his hearing aid was broken by the evil Stella] and then Janet, Honey and Billy's daughter who has Down's Syndrome. And now - Penny Branning, daughter of Jack Branning who turns out to be a wheelchair user.
Is she set to become a key albeit another disabled child character in the series or does her brief appearance mean Eastenders can tick the "featured a wheelchair user" box for 2008 [or is that 1988 - 2008?]?
Of course if she is brought into the square I'm sure she'll be being played by a real wheelchair user.... Umm.
2 comments:
I found you as I searched for all things dealing with Down syndrome and spent some time reading your "new" blog and your article in The Guardian, which was wonderful and touching. (Was that a run-on sentence, or what?)
I catch the Eastenders from time-to-time here in the States and will follow more closely now. Thanks and look forward to reading more in the future.
Tom
Heh my first blog comment - thank you. Just wondered if you have seen the blog by Steve on the BBC Disability website OUCH, his son, Stan, also has Down's Syndrome. You might find it interesting... http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/lifefiles/dwtk/
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