Living with disability
Presenter Alex Brooker confronts his disability and meets other disabled people for a candid documentary….
There was a moment last summer when Alex Brooker was hit with a crushing reality. The comedian and presenter was preparing to swim the English Channel as part of a celebrity team to raise money for Stand Up to Cancer, and was training in Lake Windermere.
‘For the first time, I felt very disabled because my body just wouldn’t do what I needed it to. I got really emotional,’ says Alex, best known for co-hosting C4 comedy talk show The Last Leg. ‘I realised I’d been in denial.’
Intense memories
Born with hand, arm and leg deformities, he had his right leg amputated as a baby.
The moment in Lake Windermere was a stark reminder of his limitations, and in a new one-off film, Alex explores what being disabled means for him.
He begins by going with his mum,
Elaine, to visit Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he underwent numerous operations.
‘It holds intense memories,’ says Alex. ‘My mum was in tears before we even went in. As a kid, it was like my second home.’
He also meets other disabled Brits such as dad-of-two Ly, who became paralysed as an adult, champion swimmer Susie Rodgers and primary school friend Andy, who was born with spina bifida.
‘It was lovely to talk about how disability has affected our lives,’ says Alex, who hosted C4’s coverage of the Paralympics in
London 2012 and in Rio in 2016. ‘I’m one of the few disabled people on TV and I want to use that in a positive way, to help others get a better understanding.’