First disabled adult role for 'Enders

[Perdita]

BBC soap EastEnders has cast its first ever adult disabled actor.

Wheelchair user David Proud will take on the role of Manda Best's (Josie Lawrence) son Adam, a 20-year-old self-obsessed, snobbish Oxford University student who arrives in Walford during the holidays to stay with his mother.

Upon his arrival on the Square, Adam quickly forms a low opinion of Manda's boyfriend Minty (Cliff Parisi), while there's an intellectual meeting of minds as he's introduced to Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu).

Both character and actor suffer from Spina Bifida, a developmental birth defect which results in an incomplete formation of the spinal cord.

Speaking of his casting, the 26-year-old said: "I'm delighted and honoured to be joining such a talented cast. I'm very excited and looking forward to bringing the character to life."

Executive producer Diederick Santer said: "I'm delighted to welcome David to EastEnders. He's a fine young actor with a wonderfully dry comic delivery playing an interesting and possibly rather irritating character. I'm sure he and his character Adam will be strong additions to EastEnders.

"In recent years, we've had a number of regular and guest characters with disabilities, some of them children like Janet Mitchell and more recently Syd's son, Noah. We've also told the story of Jean Slater who suffers from bipolar disorder."

He added: "But this is the first time we've had a regular adult character with a visible disability played by an actor with a disability. It's about time."

Proud begins filming within the next few weeks and will make his screen debut in the autumm.

His previous screen credits include a lead role in CBBC basketball drama Desperados and ITV's second series of Secret Diary Of A Call Girl.

In December, Channel 4 series Hollyoaks announced the casting of Guillain-Barré Syndrome sufferer Kelly-Marie Stewart. She took on the role of bubbly joker Hayley Ramsey, who also suffers from the same condition on screen. Stewart made her first appearance in the teen soap at the end of January.

In March, Emmerdale cast the first blind actress in a UK soap with Kitty McGeever as comic character Lizzie Lakely. The mischievous petty criminal arrived in the village at the end of April.

Last month, Coronation Street signed deaf actress Ali Briggs for another stint in Weatherfield as Emily Bishop's (Eileen Derbyshire) niece Freda.

[sindydoll]

what do they want a round of applause! his he so differant that they have to make a public issue about it

[di marco]

i think its cos people always moan about the lack of disabled actors on tv especially in soaps

[JustJodi]

here is what this David Proud looks like:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2669710/

[CrazyLea]

I agree with Sindydoll. So he is disabled, so what? He's the same as us :s Make such a fuss just beause he is disabled.

[di marco]

i agree they shouldnt make such a fuss just cos hes disabled, but i dont think shows would make such a fuss if people didnt go on about them needing disabled people in the programmes. i dont think it should matter to the producers or the audience whether they have disabled people as opposed to non disabled people. yes they should hire disabled people but not in a seemingly different category than everyone else which sadly always seems to be the case

[lizann]

So could he be Phil's son maybe

[Kim]

They made a fuss about it when they had their first all black cast episode too. Both are minorities and in terms of press coverage I think it is only fair that they are handled equally as a kind of milestone in the show's history.

And as a disabled person I think that this could be very good for readers. I and all of the disabled people that I know personally have quite low self confidence and I think that it will be encouraging for other disabled people wanting to pursue an acting career particularly to read that someone in a similar situation has got a part in such a well known show.

[CrazyLea]

Yeah it's good in that respect that it gives other disabled people confidence and know that they can do this even though. But still, why make such a fuss about a disabled person? If they didn't make a press release about it would anyone even think twice about it? I wouldn't.

[sindydoll]

So could he be Phil's son maybe

phils son? have i missed something?