Jamie McDonald

And just as I was about to grasp the Granny Smith... LAUGHTER I glimpsed another hand going for the same piece of fruit. So I whipped my hand back and I said, sorry. Just to realize that the apples were next to a mirror. I just apologized to my own hand. I chuckled away. No, my brass neck was allowing me to own my disability, and that was incredibly liberating.

And just as I was about to grasp the Granny Smith... LAUGHTER I glimpsed another hand going for the same piece of fruit. So I whipped my hand back and I said, sorry. Just to realize that the apples were next to a mirror. I just apologized to my own hand. I chuckled away. No, my brass neck was allowing me to own my disability, and that was incredibly liberating.

And just as I was about to grasp the Granny Smith... LAUGHTER I glimpsed another hand going for the same piece of fruit. So I whipped my hand back and I said, sorry. Just to realize that the apples were next to a mirror. I just apologized to my own hand. I chuckled away. No, my brass neck was allowing me to own my disability, and that was incredibly liberating.

And, you know, constantly finding my life funny kind of naturally led me into stand-up comedy. And now my comedy and my blindness are inextricably linked. So to be invited onto a show like Have I Got News For You, wonderful, you know, chatting over ideas with producers, brilliant. But now, I had all these faux outraged trolls deciding I hadn't been in on the joke. I'd been exploited.

And, you know, constantly finding my life funny kind of naturally led me into stand-up comedy. And now my comedy and my blindness are inextricably linked. So to be invited onto a show like Have I Got News For You, wonderful, you know, chatting over ideas with producers, brilliant. But now, I had all these faux outraged trolls deciding I hadn't been in on the joke. I'd been exploited.

And, you know, constantly finding my life funny kind of naturally led me into stand-up comedy. And now my comedy and my blindness are inextricably linked. So to be invited onto a show like Have I Got News For You, wonderful, you know, chatting over ideas with producers, brilliant. But now, I had all these faux outraged trolls deciding I hadn't been in on the joke. I'd been exploited.

Not only were these people hijacking my disability, but they were using it to go after a show I'd loved been on. And no joke, right, the Twitter storm, it made the papers. The Sun, the Metro, the Times all attacked the BBC and have I got news for you on my behalf, right? Not one of them asked me for comment.

Not only were these people hijacking my disability, but they were using it to go after a show I'd loved been on. And no joke, right, the Twitter storm, it made the papers. The Sun, the Metro, the Times all attacked the BBC and have I got news for you on my behalf, right? Not one of them asked me for comment.

Not only were these people hijacking my disability, but they were using it to go after a show I'd loved been on. And no joke, right, the Twitter storm, it made the papers. The Sun, the Metro, the Times all attacked the BBC and have I got news for you on my behalf, right? Not one of them asked me for comment.

And tweeting my enjoyment of the show hadn't worked and I was very reluctant to engage any further in case this was taken as some kind of vindication or recognition. God knows how much the storm would rage if they felt they had agency. I was absolutely powerless in the face of it. So I did what you do in any store. I battened down the hatches. Hope it blew itself out before it wrecked my career.

And tweeting my enjoyment of the show hadn't worked and I was very reluctant to engage any further in case this was taken as some kind of vindication or recognition. God knows how much the storm would rage if they felt they had agency. I was absolutely powerless in the face of it. So I did what you do in any store. I battened down the hatches. Hope it blew itself out before it wrecked my career.

And tweeting my enjoyment of the show hadn't worked and I was very reluctant to engage any further in case this was taken as some kind of vindication or recognition. God knows how much the storm would rage if they felt they had agency. I was absolutely powerless in the face of it. So I did what you do in any store. I battened down the hatches. Hope it blew itself out before it wrecked my career.

Producers don't love it when you turn up to their show completely your very own angry Twitter mob. And part of me started thinking, have I got this wrong here? Do I have the right to full ownership of my eyes or do others have a stake in them if I'm using them for entertainment? I mean, it wasn't so much an existential crisis.

Producers don't love it when you turn up to their show completely your very own angry Twitter mob. And part of me started thinking, have I got this wrong here? Do I have the right to full ownership of my eyes or do others have a stake in them if I'm using them for entertainment? I mean, it wasn't so much an existential crisis.

Producers don't love it when you turn up to their show completely your very own angry Twitter mob. And part of me started thinking, have I got this wrong here? Do I have the right to full ownership of my eyes or do others have a stake in them if I'm using them for entertainment? I mean, it wasn't so much an existential crisis.

It was more a question of, do I, as a blind person on a high-profile show, have a duty to entertain or to uphold best accessible practices at all costs? You know, at the recording, if a voiceover had come on saying, Jamie, you're looking at a picture of a Ford Fiesta. It's a brilliant... Yeah, that's accessible. But as a comedian, what am I going to do with that?

It was more a question of, do I, as a blind person on a high-profile show, have a duty to entertain or to uphold best accessible practices at all costs? You know, at the recording, if a voiceover had come on saying, Jamie, you're looking at a picture of a Ford Fiesta. It's a brilliant... Yeah, that's accessible. But as a comedian, what am I going to do with that?

It was more a question of, do I, as a blind person on a high-profile show, have a duty to entertain or to uphold best accessible practices at all costs? You know, at the recording, if a voiceover had come on saying, Jamie, you're looking at a picture of a Ford Fiesta. It's a brilliant... Yeah, that's accessible. But as a comedian, what am I going to do with that?

I'd probably say something like, just another car I can't drive. The trolls would go nuts. Insensitive monsters. How do you tell a blind person he's looking at a picture of a car? You can't win. And I think one of the problems is that some people, they see disability as one thing. It's not. Blindness is like infinite combinations of psychological and physical impacts on people.

I'd probably say something like, just another car I can't drive. The trolls would go nuts. Insensitive monsters. How do you tell a blind person he's looking at a picture of a car? You can't win. And I think one of the problems is that some people, they see disability as one thing. It's not. Blindness is like infinite combinations of psychological and physical impacts on people.