I’m Rover the moon
Mel proud to make difference
CORRIE’S Melissa Johns says she is proud to be a disabled star on the show – and hopes others will follow her into showbusiness.
The actress, 27, who was born with one arm, said: “If you want to make a difference, you need to be on people’s televisions.”
She loves her role as feisty Imogen, which was not written specifically as a disabled character.
“She’s got attitude,” said Melissa. “In my first episode, I was kissing one girl and fighting another.”
And at the National Lottery Awards, she said: “Lots of mums with children with disabilities like mine have been in touch.” Melissa was contacted by the parents of a seven-year-old girl born with one arm who was struggling with anxiety.
She said: “Her family told her, ‘There’s going to be a girl like you on Coronation Street’ and she’s been running around with her arm in the air like she doesn’t care.”
Melissa was bracing herself for trolls – but has only had one negative response.
She said: “A lady commented saying: ‘Where’s her arm?’ And I replied saying, ‘If you find it, let me know – I’ve been searching for it for years’. If ‘where’s your arm’ is the worst I’m going to get, I’m a lucky girl, really.”