Blackburn woman lends voice to new ad

10:48am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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AN East Lancashire businesswoman has given her voice to one of Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park’s latest characters.

Mother-of-two Debbie Reynolds, 33, has provided the voice for Cath the Cat, who is one of six brand new Creature Discomforts characters unveiled today by the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability.

The animal-based characters, which are similar to those featured in the hit Creature Comforts series, will appear in four new animations being previewed online ahead of a six-week television advertising campaign to change attitudes towards people with disabilities.

By featuring the unscripted voices of disabled people talking about the issues that affect their lives, the short animated sketches aim to challenge people’s expect-ations about what they are capable of achieving.

In the animation Cath the Cat, who is sitting on top of a washing machine, says: “If I did mention to somebody that I was hard of hearing, then they’d start mouthing, and talking to me like I was stupid…[in a loud voice] YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT LIKE THIS!”

Debbie, of Feniscowles, Blackburn, a successful businesswoman who is hard of hearing, said: “It does happen a lot that people change the way they speak to me when they discover I have a hearing impairment.

“It used to really bother me, but I don’t think anything of it now.

“Life changed for me in 2003 when I became involved with the deaf community.

“Before that I had always hidden the fact I was hard of hearing as I didn’t want people to think I was different.

“That was the year I learned to sign and discovered I was actually good at something.

“I trained as an interpreter and now own a business, The School of Sign Language, and feel blessed to work with people I consider to be friends and family, rather than employees.

“I have two beautiful daughters and a fulfilling relationship with my partner Glyn.”

The characters were created by Nick Park’s triple Oscar-winning Aardman Animations team, which was responsible for hit movies including Chicken Run and the Wallace and Gromit series.

As well as Cath the Cat, the sketches feature a blind chameleon, an owl and a shrimp in wheel-chairs, a rabbit and mouse.

Leonard Cheshire Disab-ility’s public policy manager Guy Parckar, highlighted the impor-tance of the campaign.

He said: “Disabled people experience unnec-essary social barriers which are created largely through ignorance.

“The public’s low expectations, especially of their ability to have relationships, play a big part in this.

“We want people to change the way they see disability, to think and act differently and to engage with disabled people in all aspects of life.”

Debbie can be seen discussing her role in the animations on This Morning on ITV from 10.30am tomorrow.