Lewes actor Sarah Gordy MBE announced as national learning disability charity ambassador

Sarah is one of the most established actors with Down's Syndrome in the UK

Lewes actor Sarah Gordy MBE has been announced as an ambassador for a national learning disability charity.

The charity Mencap has today announced it has welcomed 18 new ambassadors from the learning disability community to the organisation.

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The group of ambassadors, known as The Myth Busters, are all living life with a learning disability and will be helping to challenge wider stigmas and societal misconceptions about what living life with a disability looks like.

Sarah said: “I’m proud to be a Mencap ambassador. I want the world to know that we’re all just people; some people worry too much about getting it wrong when talking to us. People sometimes think that people with a learning disability cannot be good, professional actors; my life is great, so just be happy for me."

Alongside Sarah, the Myth Busters features other famous faces – including model Ellie Goldstein, TV presenter George Webster, BAFTA Award-winning Tommy Jessop and singer songwriter Daniel Wakeford.

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Sarah is one of the most established actors with Down's Syndrome in the UK – having starred in TV shows such as The A Word, Call The Midwife, Upstairs Downstairs and Peak Practice.

Late last year, Mencap released statistics which revealed that two thirds of people in the UK cannot correctly identify a learning disability as a reduced intellectual ability, with 40% of people thinking it’s dyslexia and 28% believing it to relate to a mental health issue.

The survey also revealed two in five people (42%) had not seen someone with a learning disability in the media in the past year, with a third (33%) saying they would feel more comfortable talking to someone with a learning disability if they saw them featured more often in the media.

Edel Harris, Chief Executive of the learning disability charity Mencap, said: “Each and everyone of these Myth Busters are amazing and I can’t thank them enough for joining the Mencap family. To have this diverse group of unique, talented, interesting, energetic, and fun people on board to help us shatter misconceptions, reduce stigma and campaign for societal change and greater inclusion of people with a learning disability is a real pleasure and privilege.

"We want the UK to be the best place in the world for people with a learning disability to live happy and healthy lives and I’m delighted the Myth Busters are helping us to make this a reality.”

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