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Soap star condemns 'daily abuse and prejudice'

Getty Images Cherylee Houston, with long black curly hair and wearing a black dress, sits in her wheelchair in front of a red curtainGetty Images
Cherylee Houston said she experiences discrimination "on a daily basis"

A Coronation Street star who uses a wheelchair has condemned the "blatant" prejudice she has suffered after being verbally abused in the street.

Cherylee Houston, who plays Izzy Armstrong in the soap opera, posted about the incident after someone shouted a slur at her from a passing car in Manchester.

She told BBC Radio Manchester: “This is happening an awful lot to deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people.”

The treatment of disabled people during the pandemic, as well as recent proposed cuts to disability benefits, had recently fuelled abusive attitudes, she added.

Ms Houston said she experienced prejudice “on a daily basis” and felt at some levels people do not even realise they are being discriminatory.

“That's why it's so blatant and OK to do in a way – people can climb over you, stand in front of you, ignore you, not allow you in,” she said.

She encouraged others to call out incidents like the one she experienced.

“If you see something that's not right, say something. Don't allow the individual to take that abuse.”

Ms Houston said she felt attitudes towards disabled people had “gone back” in recent years, particularly during the pandemic.

"We were termed as ‘just those with underlying health conditions and the elderly’ that were going to die, which sort of implies they don't matter," she said.

Cherylee Houston spoke to BBC Radio Manchester about the abuse she has faced

She added that proposed changes to benefits for disabled people had encouraged a narrative that disabled people were “benefit scroungers".

“In a way we’re being quietly persecuted a lot of the time as the disabled community,” she said.

Many people responded to Ms Houston's post on X with sympathy.

One said: "That's awful. The conscious, shameless, brazenness of it. Sorry you or anyone has to deal with that."

Another user added: "The respect for disabled people feels very thin on the ground right now. I’m sorry they chose to abuse you. Thank you for speaking out and I hope you’re okay."

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