First British Blind Soap Actress as Lizzie Lakely

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The country's leading disability charity has applauded the decision by Emmerdale bosses to introduce the country's first every blind actress in a British soap.

Kitty McGeever, 41, who lost her sight at the age of 33 from a diabetes-related illness, is set to arrive in the village next month, playing blind character Lizzie Lakely.

"We applaud the decision by Emmerdale to champion the county's first ever blind soap actress. It is a breath of fresh air in an area where disabled actors and actresses are totally underrepresented," says John Knight, Leonard Cheshire Disability's Assistant Director of Policy and Campaigns.

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

The announcement comes just weeks after it was announced by the BBC that it is set to raise the profile of disabled characters on EastEnders. And Hollyoaks has introduced one of its first prominent disabled characters, bubbly Hayley Ramsey, who has Guillain-Barre Syndrome, both in real life and in the show.

Reference: Leonard Cheshire Disability supports over 21,000 disabled people in the UK and works in 52 countries. We campaign for change and provide innovative services that give disabled people the opportunity to live life their way. Visit www.LCDisability.org