Parents protest children's show host who has disability

A disabled CBeebies presenter has been the victim of a disturbing campaign after parents complained that she was scaring toddlers.

They claimed that host Cerrie Burnell - who was born with one arm - is not suitable to appear on the digital children's channel.

According to this article, the decision to hire Cerrie Burnell (shown in the photo at left), who was born with one arm, to take over the Do and Discover and The Bedtime Hour program has resulted in complaints and online comments from parents so vicious that some have had to be removed from the CBeebies website. Miss Burnell studied drama, has performing experience and also works as a teaching assistant at a special needs school.

Disability groups have fiercely defended her and the BBC.

John Knight, of charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, said: 'Disabled people experience disadvantage and discrimination like this every day, largely through ignorance. This needs to change.

'Understanding disability all comes down to familiarity. The bottom line is that seeing disabled people on television should be the norm, not the exception.'

Update: BBC: How Do You Explain a Missing Arm to a Child?