Chris McCausland Srickly Come Dancing first blind winner
Please don’t think I’m making fun of Chris in any way; what he managed is spectacular. The blackout moment to immerse the audience in his world was moving and, as with Rose Ayling-Ellis’ silent dance, brought empathy into the room. However, I wonder how many disabled people worked on the production, the offscreen talent? In my experience, particularly with BBC Studios in mind, I’d be pleasantly surprised if there were any at all!
Just as actress Amanda Abbington found, what happens off-screen can be very different. My experience with the BBC is that they are keen to employ disabled people in entry-level jobs – what I call Mascot Model – but reasonable adjustments to get beyond entry-level are very grudgingly allowed, if at all, as they don’t want to make a “special case” of anyone. After all, whoever heard of a mascot being permitted to play for the team?
#MascotModel #Strickly
