• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / News Archive / Disabled ex-soldier enters Big Brother house

Disabled ex-soldier enters Big Brother house

By guest on 30th June 2010 Category: News Archive

Listen

A disabled ex-soldier has been selected as one of the housemates for the final series of the TV reality show Big Brother.

Immediate impressions of Steve Gill on blogs and websites were overwhelmingly positive, both from disabled and non-disabled people, and bookmakers quickly installed him as one of the favourites to win the competition.

Gill is no stranger to the media spotlight. Earlier this year, he took part in a transatlantic yacht race with a crew of fellow amputee ex-servicemen.

He also coaches wheelchair basketball and supports the British Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association (BLESMA), the national charity for serving and ex-service men and women who have lost limbs.

In a video on the BLESMA website, Gill describes how he lost an eye and his two legs in an explosion while serving with the army in Belfast in 1989.

A BLESMA spokeswoman said they thought Gill was “fantastic” and were hoping his appearance would help raise awareness of the charity’s work.

Channel 4 said Gill was married with eight children and that he chooses to wear shorts to show his prosthetic limbs. He said: “I purposely walk around looking the way I do. It’s better to be open about who you are.”

A fellow amputee noted on the Big Brother website that some people were already commenting on the fact that Gill did not have a paid job, despite his voluntary work.

Another viewer who posted on the site warned that comments about Gill’s employment status were “a taste of what’s to come in the press”, with a new government “softening us up for cuts”.

Gill’s entry into Channel 4’s Big Brother house comes less than a month after the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom condemned the use of offensive, disablist language by Big Brother presenter Davina McCall and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones on a Big Brother offshoot.

10 June 2010

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Related

‘Muddled’ blue badge reforms ‘are to blame for renewal delays’
6th February 2015
UN debate will be reminder of true inclusive education
6th February 2015
IDS breaks pledge on PIP waiting-times, as tens of thousands still queue for months
30th January 2015

Primary Sidebar

Image shows a man wearing glasses sitting by an open laptop The text reads: Free Career Support for Disabled People Our services include: 1-2-1 Coaching Online Career Resources Find Support near you Search for Inclusive Jobs Career Events and Workshops Visit the Evenbreak Career Hive today to find out how we can help you

Access

Latest Stories

Grenfell: Call for action over government’s ‘deplorable’ decision on evacuation plans

‘Severely neglected’ man found dead, three months after DWP assessment

Government brands DNS ‘vexatious’ for trying to obtain info on 90 DWP deaths

Government’s ‘milestone’ disability jobs stats ‘are meaningless when it comes to equality’

Concern over offensive LGBT+ comments at access awards event

Universal credit boss defends years of misleading information

Discrimination could be a cause of increased risk of Covid death, says ONS

Access to Work in crisis as figures show ‘massive’ waiting-list

Queen’s speech: Activists’ message to Patel over new protest bill: ‘We fight on’

Queen’s speech: Six bills that may change disabled people’s lives, for better and for worse

Advice and Information

The Department for Work and Pensions: Deaths, cover-up, and a toxic 30-year legacy

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web