From TV host to Gucci model: meet four women breaking disability barriers

"Sharing our experiences is the way to prove what's possible", says award-winning garden designer and BBC TV presenter Sue Kent, alluding to the dreams she's achieved while having an upper limb difference that makes certain physical tasks challenging.

Sue is one of four women we spoke to who are helping to break down barriers in the representation of disabled people – along with two talent agency founders who helped model Ellie Goldstein to became the first person with Down Syndrome on a British Vogue cover and in a Gucci campaign; and the founder of a deaf-led theatre company making waves.

This International Women's Day, as we reflect on the obstacles we've collectively overcome, the achievements to celebrate, and the challenges that women still face all over the world, it's crucial to remember the importance of representation in all forms, including ethnicity, sexuality, nationality or disability.

'I'm an award-winning designer and TV presenter'

Sue Kent

Sue Kent is a TV presenter, an RHS disability ambassador and award-winning garden designer. Her television work includes leading gardening programmes such as the BBC’s Gardeners’ World. She lives in Swansea in a house overlooking the sea.

"My earliest memories of gardening are of being in my dad’s potting shed, making cups of tea out of soil. I come from a family of gardeners – my great-grandfather was an RHS medallist and even had a Royal warrant to supply asparagus to the then Prince of Wales!" begins Sue Kent, who you may recognise from the BBC's Gardeners' World.

"I was born with an upper limb difference caused by the drug thalidomide. Growing up, I had to adapt a lot – and gardening was no exception. When my husband and I and our two children moved to our current house in Swansea in the 80s, I taught myself to garden using my bare feet, pulling out weeds and putting in plants using my toes.

"I developed amazing balance, but I almost lost my toenails. I bought rubber foot gloves for protection, and saw a beauty and massage therapist to repair them. She gave me the idea to train as a massage therapist – using my feet.

"For 14 years, this was a successful career. A highlight was treating athletes at the London 2012 Paralympics. I also set up a YouTube channel showing different ways I’ve adapted – everything from massage and painting with my feet to how I put my socks on without using my hands. The feedback I received was so encouraging that when the BBC put out a call for home-presenting videos during the Covid-19 lockdown, I decided to give it a go."

"I had no experience as a presenter, but I sent in some footage of how I garden using my feet and my hands. I was featured on Gardeners’ World, and the positive reaction led to me becoming a regular presenter. I went on to become a Royal Horticultural Society ambassador, to design an award-winning garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace and to do talks across the UK. I have even achieved my ultimate dream of presenting at the Chelsea Flower Show.

"What drives me most is knowing I’m inspiring other disabled people. I get such lovely feedback from parents of disabled children and people struggling with their mental health, as well as those who have been ill or had a stroke. As a disabled person, you try to fit in with society, but it can take its toll on your body and mind. Sharing experiences is the best way to come up with solutions and to prove what is possible.

"Disabled people make up 24% of the UK’s population, and yet we are still hugely under-represented in the media. To be part of the change, out there and visible in society, is massively important – and it’s an opportunity I’m very grateful for.

"In future, I’m keen to see many more people with disabilities getting into garden design. I would also love to see a disabled-run TV show about helpful gadgets for disabled people. When society understands the problems and gets behind making changes, the world will become a better, more accessible place."

'We set up an inclusive talent agency'

Laura Winson and Zoe Proctor

Sisters-in-law Laura Winson, 40, from Sheffield, and Zoe Proctor, 49, from Cleethorpes, are the founders of inclusive agency Zebedee Talent, which represents models, actors, and creatives with disabilities and visible differences, as well as non-binary, and trans identities. Laura is a qualified social worker and Zoe taught performing arts at a further education college.

Laura says, "As a former social worker, achieving equality for under-represented groups is something that I have always been passionate about. In 2016, I was on maternity leave with my first child, Edith, now eight, when a dog walk along the beach in Cleethorpes with my sister-in-law, Zoe, triggered a light-bulb moment.

"Zoe, then working as a performing arts teacher for people with learning disabilities, was telling me about how her talented students often couldn’t find an agent. An inclusive talent agency would be a brilliant springboard for their careers – could we set one up?

"Before social work, I had worked in recruitment, and Zoe had done some modelling in the past. I’m married to her brother, and we’d always clicked as a family, but we quickly realised how much our professional skills also complemented each other. By the time we got home, we had decided to go for it.

"Launching Zebedee Talent in 2017 was a tough slog. We didn’t have contacts or any experience as agents. But one thing we did have was talent – we enlisted Zoe’s students, and put an advert in disability lifestyle magazine PosAbility, which led to thousands of applicants.

"After that, we were cold-calling, knocking on doors and telling anyone who would listen about these amazing disabled people who had never been represented. It was hard work, but we kept pushing because we knew our talent deserved a seat at the table."

Zoe says, "We invested a lot in creating high-end images for our talent, and we put our people forward for casting opportunities whether or not the client had specified ‘diverse’ or ‘disabled’ on the brief. There’s still so much media where disabled people are stereotypes, either ‘victims’ with no independence, or superhero Paralympians. Our talent didn’t want to just pose for medical products or reclining chairs, they wanted catwalks, high fashion and mainstream campaigns. They may be a wheelchair user, neurodivergent, have a learning disability or visible difference, but they are as good and as talented as anyone. Society might assume they can’t. We assume they can.

"Since Zebedee was launched, we’ve worked with big brands including River Island, Tommy Hilfiger, Primark, Burberry, Estée Lauder – and many more. In 2022, our talent Ellie Goldstein became Gucci’s first model with Down Syndrome. In 2023, she became the first person with Down Syndrome to feature on the cover of British Vogue. From the two of us working from our kitchen tables, we now have a team of 13, with representatives in the UK, US, Australia and Europe.

"We currently have around 800 people on our books globally, and we represent all ages, all genders and all disabilities. Seeing how empowered our models feel and how much their work means to them brings an infectious joy. There’s a long way to go – we are changing an industry that has never been inclusive. But we’ve learnt to never take no for an answer. We want to make a better world, for everyone."

'I founded a deaf-led professional theatre company'

Paula Garfield

Paula Garfield, 57, from North London, is the founder of Deafinitely Theatre, the UK’s first deaf-led theatre company. She established the company in 2002 with Steven Webb and Kate Furby after becoming frustrated at the barriers that deaf actors and directors face across the arts and media industry. Paula has produced and directed many plays and worked extensively in TV, including for Channel Four and the BBC.

"Born deaf to a hearing family, both my twin sister Fifi and I were acutely aware of body language from a young age," says Paula Garfield, founder of Deafinitely Theatre. "I spent a lot of time observing people’s mannerisms, working out their emotions. Looking back, I can see that this lent itself well to my career. Many deaf people are great actors, because we’re always relying on that visual sense.

"Fifi and I attended a deaf school, but sign language there was banned in favour of oral communication. If you were caught signing, you had to stand by the wall with your hands on your head, or write 100 lines saying, ‘I must not wave my hands.’ Also dyslexic, I really struggled. When I left school at 17, my reading was equivalent to that of an eight-year-old. I saw myself as a failure. Though my hearing parents tried their best to encourage me, I simply couldn’t see what I would do as a career.

"As a teenager, my sister Fifi got involved with the London Deaf Drama Group, an amateur theatre group led by deaf artists. Watching them was the first time I had ever seen deaf people on stage – and when I was 19 I decided to join the group too. The freedom I felt on stage spurred me on to become an actor.

"I enrolled in a ‘theatre for the deaf’ course with Reading University, which led to my first professional role – a three-month contract touring deaf and mainstream schools playing Beauty in Beauty and the Beast and using Sign Support English, a combination of spoken words and sign."

"However, work wasn’t easy to find. Increasingly disillusioned, I almost gave up until, aged 35, I met a woman called Jo Hemmant, who worked for Arts Council England. She suggested I apply for funding to start a deaf theatre company. In 2002, Deafinitely Theatre was born.

"The first deaf-led professional theatre company in the UK, we receive core funding from Arts Council England, but we also rely on grants, partnerships, sponsorship and donations. Our productions are bilingual, using British Sign Language (BSL) as our primary language, with some elements spoken or captioned in English. Their aim is to challenge and change perspectives of the deaf experience. Fifi has been a huge supporter of our work, and has even performed in some of our productions.

"In 2011, we set up a youth theatre. By that time, my partner Tom and I had two children, Molly, now 19, and Hazel, 14 – who were both born deaf. Becoming a mother made me more driven than ever to inspire the next generation. One of our alumni is actor Rose Ayling-Ellis, who starred in EastEnders and also won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021.

"When it comes to inclusivity for the deaf community, the theatre industry needs a wake-up call. The odd captioned performance is not enough. My dream is to see a high-profile drama school for BSL users, and more deaf directors and writers.

"There’s a BSL GCSE planned to start in England this September, which is brilliant – I’d love to see it taught in mainstream schools with equal status to foreign languages. We also need better healthcare for deaf people, and elderly care – there’s currently only one care home in the whole of the UK that uses BSL, on the Isle of Wight. It scares me to think that in my old age, I could end up with no one around who can communicate with me.

"Finding a purpose can save you. Through theatre, I’ve found expression, creativity and the opportunity to prove myself. That focus continues to drive me to encourage others in the deaf community to believe in their dreams. Theatre should be for everyone."

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