Coronation Street star awarded MBE for services in the disabled community

Cherylee Houston, who is best known for her role as Izzy Armstrong on the ITV soap Coronation Street collected her MBE for services in the disabled community at a ceremony hosted by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne earlier this month.

Cherylee was also given an award for services to drama having played Izzy for the past 12 years. As well as working as an actress she has been vocal in campaigning for disabled rights, focusing removing the barriers of everyday society and speaking in parliament about welfare cuts to disability benefits.

Speaking to reporters about her MBE and the importance of seeing more diverse actors on screen, Cherylee said: “If you think when you were growing up who your role models were, who influences you, if you as a disabled child don’t have that, how do you know what you can do?

“I firmly believe the more we’re on screens, the more we’re going to be understood, the more people care and empathise and will ensure that we will have equal rights and equal opportunity because it is about equality.”

In her role as Izzy Armstrong, Cherylee was the actor to use a wheelchair on the soap and is a co founder of the Disabled Artists Networking Community, which has a data base for disabled creatives. It brings together disabled professional and decision makers working in TV and the arts to improve representation. During the ceremony she spoke about how she hopes disabled people being more visible will mean more accessibility and more ramps in public places.