Chris McCausland on Strictly never felt ‘tokenistic’, says blind charity worker

By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

A blind charity worker has said that Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland inspired him and the sight loss community, and it never felt a “tokenistic” choice by the BBC One celebrity competition.

Comedian McCausland became the first blind winner in the show’s 20-year history, after beating fellow finalists Miranda actress Sarah Hadland, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and JLS singer JB Gill on Saturday night.

Clive Wood, who is supported by Guide Dogs UK, and campaigns for the charity, says before real-time audio descriptions were put on Strictly he always had to rely on his family, who had their own biases about the outfits and contestants, to listen to the show.

He felt there has been a real difference this year for diversity, and said: “Unfortunately, I think quite often, when they have disabled people on mainstream programmes, (this is) not very often, but when they do … it’s seen as quite tokenistic.

“But I think on this show, Chris was doing an amazing job, but obviously with (dance partner) Dianne (Buswell), who was there to teach him and support him, and he did amazing, his achievement needs to be recognised as being a significant one, not just for them as a partnership.”

The police and campaigns manager at Guide Dogs UK, whose sight deteriorated in his 20s and 30s, can perceive light and dark like McCausland. He added that it will “inspire” people in the blind community that they can do things with “support”.

“If everybody had a Dianne we would be very fortunate so that’s quite often the case, it’s good to have the aspiration and want to achieve but you do need the support network in place to be able to do that,” Mr Wood, 59, added.

He also said there is a perception of people with disability that they are not going to “achieve” much, and if they do it is “some sort of wonderful miracle”.

“There’s plenty of people with sight loss who’ve achieved a lot in their lives,” he added.

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Mr Wood also explained that small steps forward can also make a difference in people’s lives, saying: “If you go out for the day and don’t get refused access to a shop because you’ve got your guide dog with you, which happens all the time, nearly 90% guide dog owners are experiencing that on a regular basis.

“So Chris’s achievement is fantastic, but some people’s aspirations aren’t even that high, they just want to be able to go out and do things that everybody else wants to do, and I really do hope that Chris’s achievement will encourage people to do that.”

Wood, who was born with some sight loss before it worsened, and has worked for the NHS, says that McCausland has “filled me with joy” over the past few months.

However, he said he does not want to follow his footsteps by dancing, and has been inspired in small ways.

He joked that “it does scare me now that I’m going to have to be pulled up at a wedding or an event to dance”, as he had used his blindness as an excuse.