by Rebecca Day, originally posted by Manchester Evening News on 16 April 2018
Cherylee Houston will join a team of wheelchair users to raise money for TripleC
A Coronation Street star will join a team of wheelchair users at the start-line of the Great Manchester Run in May.
Cherylee Houston, who plays Izzy Armstrong in the soap, will be raising money for TripleC, an organisation working towards making the arts more inclusive for people with disabilities.
The 43-year-old, who has connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, became a wheelchair user at the age of 24.
In 2010 she made history when she became the first disabled actress to star in Coronation Street.
Now she’s turning her efforts into helping other people with disabilities get careers in the arts, which is why she became one of the founders of TripleC.
She was inspired to set up the organisation after she was approached by a former pupil of an acting workshop she used to run 20 years ago.
The ex-pupil told her the workshops had helped build her confidence and self-esteem, and had allowed her to come to terms with her own disability.
Cherylee said: “It made me think about how we could help the next generation. Not just creating new actors but using the tools we learn in acting to instil confidence and self-advocacy in any disabled young person.”
The TripleC team is in the process of setting up a youth theatre and members of the team recently launched a Disabled Artist Networking Community.
The actress took part in the Great Manchester Run last year with a team of five wheelchair users, and the money raised was put towards hosting the team’s first ever networking event.
She’s hoping to pull together an even bigger TripleC team this year, to raise funds for a new computer for the organisation.
