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Coronation Street plot to highlight the struggles of disabled workers during the pandemic

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Coronation Street plot to highlight the struggles of disabled workers during the pandemic

The soap has announced a new storyline for wheelchair-user Izzy Armstrong.

Central to the plot is Underworld staffer Izzy Armstrong (Cherylee Houston) whose bosses Carla Connor (Alison King) and Sarah Barlow (Tina O’Brien) previously came up with a plan for her to work from home whilst shielding.

However, behind the scenes Izzy has been struggling to keep up and things come to a head next week.

“We had to think outside the box in order to tell this story, devising new protocols and ways of scripting scenes that would allow Cherylee to film the scenes herself in her home.

“I hope it will resonate with millions of people who have found themselves in a similar position to Izzy – and perhaps open the eyes of those who had little awareness of the issues facing disabled people during COVID.”

– Iain MacLeod, Producer

Viewers will see Izzy in her home environment in scenes filmed by Cherylee Houston and her partner Toby Hadoke at their Manchester home.

Actor Toby has joined the cast as Izzy’s concerned neighbour Fergus.

With Carla increasingly frustrated by what she sees as substandard work from Izzy she tells Sarah that the situation is untenable and if Izzy refuses to come back to work, they’ll have to get rid of her. When Sarah video messages Izzy, Fegus steps in and tells Sarah that Izzy is struggling and needs to put her health first.

The reactions of Carla reflect the real-life experience of many people in Izzy’s position.

Responding to a YouGov poll on behalf of the TUC, a number of disabled workers noted that their disability or shielding status had led to unfair treatment during the pandemic.

The poll also uncovered that more than one in five (21 per cent) shielding workers had been put at risk – working outside of their home most of the time.

Cherylee herself has been shielding since last March and is relishing the opportunity to be able to work from home in a mixture of video link scenes and specially shot moments between Izzy and Fergus.

“I’ve been unbelievably fortunate that my employers enabled me to continue shielding after the official shielding guidance ended in March. I’ve been so supported by ITV, but I’m aware that many of my disabled peers haven’t had that safety and have been forced to make the decision to earn money to survive whilst facing the real fear of death or serious illness through Covid.

There’s currently 4.4 million disabled workers in the UK. We experience almost double the unemployment statistics compared to our non disabled peers (mostly due to prejudice or lack of reasonable adjustments).”

– Cherylee Houston

Coronation Street airs on ITV, UTV and STV. Times vary due to Euro 2020. See local listings for details.

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