Anyone following Dancing on Ice on ITV1 can surely see that Heather Mills, despite being near the top or middle of the leaderboard each week, is not as good a skater as some celebrities lower down on the board. So the question is… is she using her disability to get through?
In Sunday’s (January 31st) episode, she alone mentioned her prosthetic leg a total of four times in three minutes. The week before, it was mentioned twice in the same time and in the first episode, it was mentioned a whopping seven times.
Obviously she has a disability, but she preaches not letting anything hold her back and pertains to be a spokesperson for amputees, running support websites and inspiring people. No doubt, noble work, but when she comes on national television and talks about her disability and its limits the whole time, how can she then say she is doing this to inspire people?
Daniella Westbrook was a far more inspirational figure in the show, when she fell, tearing muscles in her back and cracking several ribs, to then keep on practicing, without complaint, despite obvious pain. She went on to say that “It’s just part of skating”. Though she is not a professional skater, in this, she showed the attitude of one, and acted far more professionally than Heather Mills.
The judges, each week, commend her for even trying as she has a prosthetic leg. This doesn’t give us the chance to see her as a skater. We are constantly bombarded with messages of how wonderful she is for trying to do this, with a prosthetic leg, which deducts from the viewing experience, and distracts us with regards making decisions fairly based on skating. It seems to be a case of “Oh didn’t she do well – she only has one leg”. With all kudos to her for going out there and skating, I refuse to judge her any less harshly than the other skaters, many of whom are putting on far better performances and are ending up lower down on the scoreboard.
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