Cherylee Houston broke down in tears as she opened up about the "battles" she faces against people’s "lower expectations" of her, and her daily struggles to access buildings without people’s help.
The ‘Coronation Street’ actress – who has been in a wheelchair since she was 23 after being diagnosed with a rare connective tissue disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – started a new hashtag last week to enable people with disabilities to "demonstrate how inaccessible our world is", and she admits it is "heart-breaking" to feel that those with disabilities "don’t matter as much".
She said: "Weirdly, if I’m honest, people have lower expectations of us.
"And we sort of don’t matter as much. And that’s heart-breaking.
"That’s not society’s fault, but it is society’s fault.
"Because we were locked up in the 80s, we had no rights to transport in the 90s and no rights to education in the 00s.
"There’s a whole generation now coming in and going, ‘Actually, why aren’t you in the room with us?’
"I’m so used to being told ‘no’ to, but I don’t want the next generation to go through this. That’s not fair.
"I’m strong, I’m tough. But if this is knocking me, what is it doing to other people?
"As well as those battles, pain and all those dislocations, I’m having to battle people’s opinions of me, their lower expectations of me, I’m having to battle the fact they won’t even help me get in the building."
Cherylee admitted it is "exhausting" and "depressing" going through such daily battles, and has called those who don’t have acceptable disabled access to their premises to "stop apologising and start doing, please".
Speaking on ITV’s ‘Granada Reports’, she added: "When I started doing the hashtag it was like, ‘It’s relentless.’ It surprised me.
"The understanding of our society as a whole is way off.
"That’s what is stopping us doing our jobs, doing what we want to do … living in the communities, making it really difficult for us.
"Because we’re spending a lot of our time trying to get places.
"I always have to leave an hour earlier than anyone else."
Last week, Cherylee wrote on Twitter: "Starting a new hashtag for #disabled people to use to demonstrate how inaccessible our world is for the next few days #takingthedis my first for the day (sic)"
She also shared one of her own experiences, admitting she has "fallen off" temporary ramps while in her wheelchair because of the mobility aid’s weight, but praised a restaurant worker for being "really helpful" in a tricky situation.
She tweeted: "#takingthedis breakfast problems, hate temporary ramps as they’re a faff, take minutes and I’ve fallen off them because the weight of my chair makes them slide. Lovely man from @leonrestaurants was really helpful and said we can pay next time! And a kind stranger offered to pay! (sic)"
Cherylee Houston breaks down as she opens up about daily ‘battles’
