Chris McCausland has said that there are “low expectations of people with disabilities” following him being praised for a black-out dance on Strictly Come Dancing.
The comedian, 47, is the first blind competitor on the BBC One show, and imitated his own experience during a couple’s choice to Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) by John Lennon on Saturday, which received a rapturous applause from the audience.
The performance saw him put his hand over dance partner Dianne Buswell’s eyes as the ballroom went black for a brief moment, before lights came up to reveal that the Strictly professional was balanced on McCausland’s shoulders.
McCausland, who had previously said no to Strictly as he was unable to watch the show, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “there’s no doubt we are surprising people, there’s no doubt that we are surprising ourselves”.
“There are quite low expectations of people with disabilities by quite a lot of people out there in the wild,” he said.
“To the point sometimes you will come down some steps to a taxi outside, and they’ll say: ‘Ooh, wow, how did you do the steps on your own?’ And people (say): ‘Wow, you can use a phone’.
“Expectations can be quite low because maybe people’s ideas of disability can be antiquated, or maybe they’ve just got no exposure, so this is, in a way it’s quite extreme, isn’t it?
“But I hope it goes some way to stretching people’s ideas of what is possible.”
The Liverpool-born comedian, who scored 33 points from the judges, also admitted that as “you’re a little in world of your own after the dance”, he had not listened to the praise at the time properly.
Judge Craig Revel Horwood called darkness on the Strictly stage a “poignant blackout moment”, while Shirley Ballas told McCausland: “You have no fear, you come out every week with your heart on your sleeve, and you give us 100%.”
McCausland also said that he did not want it to be a “gimmick”, and the brief segment of the dance was about putting the audience “in the dark”, not Buswell.
When asked about the judges’ comments, he said: “I think I’m good at masking my fear… it’s terrifying to do it on live TV, when you’ve got no previous experience of it.
“Every week that we get through it and do a good job, I’m delighted.”
McCausland lost his sight over time because of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease, which causes gradual degeneration of the retina.
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