They’ve been shunned, had to starve on set and asked if they have sex with their mobility aids … as we kick off a week of exposés, TV professionals with disabilities tell all
![‘My colleagues ignored me for a year’: what it’s really like to work in TV as a disabled person](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9b2104acd4aa83abfe2045dd267c44a54583cbde/0_0_5000_3000/master/5000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=913d93ec6a3512037e95f1274c6df6c6)
While there has been improvement in disability representation in recent years, it’s still common to switch on the TV and only see non-disabled people. In the
UK, 22% of people have a disability, yet disabled talent makes up just 7.8% of the people we see on screen and 5.2% behind the camera.
The Guardian has spoken to a number of disabled professionals to hear what it’s really like to be disabled in
British TV. Some are famous faces; others work behind the scenes. Here, five disabled people tell all.