Would anyone like to see more disabled characters in soaps? I think it would reflect society better. As someone with autism I'd love to see someone playing a character with autism.

Yes I'd love to be in a soap and I have Aspergers Syndrome

I think minorities are under represented in most of the soaps except Hollyoaks.

Emmerdale has Lizzie who is blind (the actress is in real life as well). The character Chris Tate was in a wheelchair for many years, and Jackson who was paralysed after an accident (although that involved the horrible assisted suicide story). Elderly Sandy is also quite physically disabled, and unable to get around without a mobility scooter. River City used to have an actress with down's syndrome a few years ago. The only other characters I can think of with a disability was Sandy in Crossroads, who was a wheelchair user, and Izzie in Coronation St.

I think in Emmerdale's case it would probably be unrealistic to have more disabled characters, given that they have a few characters with physical or mental health problems, purely due to the size of the village, but the city-based soaps could probably do this.

Hollyoaks had an austistic character (Spencer) and now Will, who isn't really disabled, but anyway. Nana's mobility is limited. Anna has mental health problems. Oh but now she's dead, because of Will. Indeed, I think 50% of soap characters have mental health problems otherwise they wouldn't be soaps...

Hollyoaks have Oscar, who is deaf. I always thought Dylan from Casualty was supposed to have Asperger's, too.

Emmerdale is the only soap that has had a long term main character with a disability, and one whose plots didn't exclusively revolve around his disability.i.e. Chris Tate.

Roy from Corrie has autism and Izzy needs a wheelchair

Ah, good point. I forgot about Izzy out off of Corrie. They have dealt with her disability very well.

I always thought it was a shame that Pete and Hayley in Hollyoaks didn't last long and weren't particularly great characters because I always liked that "disabled issues" weren't really the point of them being there and they had stories outside of being in a wheelchair.

Although it's never been made explicit, Roy Cropper seems to have Aspergers. He's eccentric and finds stressful situations hard to deal with. I would like Corrie to do a storyline where he is diagnosed with it. He is by far the most interesting character they have ever had, and I want them to delve deeper into his psyche and find out what makes him the way it is.

I'm not sure about this, sometimes I think it's good if in soaps (as in life) they don't label everything. Nikhil in Emmerdale for instance had some symptoms of OCD and perhaps an eating disorder. He didn't seem to have the more serious symptoms of OCD, so he might only have had it in a mild/moderate way. They could have had him being diagnosed and made an 'issue' storyline but they didn't, it simply remained part of his character. As someone who has severe OCD, but like Nikhil is high functioning I found that refreshing - I didn't want to see it turned into an 'issue' story.

I should add, I don't consider OCD a disability, but it can be a very debilitating health condition, so I'm just using it as an example I much prefer when soaps take the approach that Emmerdale has with Lizzie and Chris Tate, and River City did with the girl who had Down's (it was a long time ago, I can't remember her name) - that they're characters first and foremost, and the disability is part of that, but not the whole.

Rhona and Marlons baby in Emmerdale was born with Downs Syndrome, and there was a storyline over the choice they had whether to abort him. Now he's born and is doing fine!

I understand what you're trying to say, but I don't want disability to be brushed under the carpet, either, and forgotten about. There's lots of misconceptions about Aspergers, and if Roy Cropper was officially diagnosed with it, there'd be a better understanding of it, and people would see that the disorder is a spectrum within itself and no two people afflicted with it are the same. Some people think that everyone with AS is like Rain Man. If a soap opera watched by ten million people could show this is not the case, it would definitely help.

at the moment jean with bipolar

I don't agree that they deal with Izzy's situation "well". I am constantly amazed that Izzy gets around so swiftly, up steps, into a flat etc with no apparent difficulties. I think it makes wheelchair use look far easier than it really is!

I think it would be more helpful to show how sometimes people in wheelchairs are restricted in getting around despite all the regulations in place.

I don't think it should become all the character is about by any means but at least reflect real life a little bit..

They also had Freda, Emily's niece, who was deaf, although I admit she was only in it for a short time. I wish they'd bring her back, she was a good character.

And don't forget Tyrone who has a mental age of about 4

Lets all not forget about Eastenders superstar Adam Best.

Oh no, it shouldn't be forgotten about, but it should be only one aspect of the character - not that everything they do relates to, or is about the condition. For instance with Nikhil, had he been at the point where he believed he was evil which is one symptom of OCD - a it's not good to watch someone go through that, and b. do we really want to see him having therapy over a course of many months or visiting the psychiatrist? That's my concern, that if you have a character deliberately diagnosed with a condition that it becomes the main focus of their story for a long time, purely to be educational, either that or they're magically cured. Best to have characters like ED's Lizzie or Izzy in Corrie, who happen to have disabilities, but the focus is on their character, of which their disability is part, rather than on the problems that they face.

Tell me about it. I am in a wheelchair and I went to the Corrie set back in the days of the Granada Studios tour and believe me those cobbles were a nightmare and there are no dropped curbs or anything. And I am still trying to work out how Izzy gets into the factory when there are three steps up to front entrance.

Good point Kits. Disabilty is generally treated as tokenism. When it comes to ordinary, day to day problems that wheelchair users, for example, face, they are ignored as if they don't exist. Izzy seems to have no access problems at all because that would be boring and ruin the storylines.

I could be wrong, but I think it was once mentioned that she goes in and out via the loading bay, (where the van is that Kirk's always loading up).

I don't want Izzy's disability to define her either, but I agree that it wouldn't hurt to put in the occasional throw-away line for her, about struggling to get into the Rovers or the flat, or some shops etc.

Does she live in an upper flat? I don't know who lives where in Corrie.Yes I agree that soaps could have little touches that just make it more 'real' like ramps and other adaptations -things that could be done to suggest the difficulties the character might face, without turning them into an 'issue' - just an everyday part of life for that character.

Really? I think minorities are pretty accurately represented in all soaps except EE. You also have to take into account where the soap takes place; I'm from Newcastle and there are significantly less ethnic minorites, for example, than where I live now in Hertfordshire (in fact, there was only 2 ethnic minorites in my entire school in Newcastle). So, I'd say that all soaps pretty accurately represent this, except EE where there should be more representation.


I'd say homosexuality is pretty well represented in Emmerdale and Corrie also. I don't watch EE anymore or Hollyoaks, so can't comment there.

I would like to see more mental/physical disabilities across the board though.


Edit: I was just thinking... what happened to Lizzie in Emmerdale?