Look, ma, one hand!

Imagine this scenario: A couple has two children, and one of them has a visible disability. The other child is emotionally disturbed because the sibling looks abnormal. Will the parents abandon the child who has a disability so as to protect the other child from being traumatised constantly by the presence of the sibling?

That seems to be the logical conclusion based on this article in The New Paper entitled 'One-armed TV host blamed for scaring kids' (2 March 2009):

She's a children's TV show host who has only one hand.

Instead of getting sympathy, Cerrie Burnell has found herself in the middle of a controversy over her disability.

BBC spokeswoman Katya Mira told CNN that the channel has received at least 25 'official' complaints about Ms Burnell.

The 29-year-old, who was born with one hand, is the host of two shows on the BBC-run CBeebies television network.

The programmes are aimed children younger than six.

Ms Mira says Miss Burnell has also been bombarded with negative comments on Internet chat rooms.

Worried about nightmares

One father said he was worried that seeing Ms Burnell would give his daughter nightmares.

Another mother said her two-year-old daughter thought the presenter had been hurt, reported the BBC.

On the message board for Miss Burnell's show, one viewer wrote: 'There's a time and a place for showing kids all the differences that people can have, but nine in the morning in front of two-year-olds is not the place.'

But it's not all bad.

Miss Burnell has also been getting messages of support from viewers who think she is very brave for daring to appear on TV.

The former part-time theatre actress, who has performed in the UK and Brazil, began hosting TV shows in late January.

When the BBC released its press release about Miss Burnell as a new host, it did not mention her disability.

However, a publicity photo clearly showed the right sleeve of her sweater pulled up, showing that her arm stops just below her elbow.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Miss Burnell said she is not ashamed of her disability.

She said: 'People are frightened by disability so they don't want to see it; yet, if they saw more of it on television they wouldn't be so frightened.'

Miss Burnell added that she stopped wearing her prosthetic arm in primary school and refused to wear despite advice from her teachers at her drama school.

'One warned that were I to be cast as Juliet I would have to wear a cardigan.

'I thought to myself: 'Why would Juliet have to wear a cardigan? Would it be breezy on the balcony?' Then the penny dropped - it was to cover my lack of limb.'

Of her experience with stage work, which she hopes to return to, she said: 'People are reluctant to cast disabled actors in main roles; so we don't get any profile, and then, casting directors presume we don't exist, and even disabled roles go to actors without disabilities.

'And the vicious cycle goes on.'

Miss Burnell also denies that she got the BBC job because of the quota-filling equal opportunities policies.

BBC's controller of CBeebies told CNN that the channel is standing by Miss Burnell.

'Cerrie is warm and natural and we think that, in time, all moms and dads and children will love her as much as we do,' he said.

Sir Bert Massie, from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, believes the problem lies with ignorant and prejudiced parents.

He told the BBC: 'I think what's happening is a number of adults do have prejudices, do have very negative views about disabled people, and instead of admitting the views are their own, they're projecting them on to their children and saying the children are doing this.'

Miss Burnell said the criticism doesn't bother her and she will continue hosting.

She said: 'It can only be a good thing that parents are using me as a chance to talk disability with their children.

'It just goes to show how important it is to have positive, disabled role models on CBeebies and television in general.'

On living with her disability, she added: 'People assume there is a sadness attached to a disability like this. But to me, there is no sadness. If I had to change anything about myself, it wouldn't be this.

'It would be to make my hair blonder so I didn't have to keep paying for highlights.'