Change the way you see disAbility

All new Leonard Cheshire Disability's Creature Discomforts characters are now online at www.CreatureDiscomforts.org, ahead of a six week campaign to change attitudes to disability. Here's the press release:

Disabled people have the same desires and aspirations as non-disabled people, in work, education and relationships. The new animations will challenge people's low expectations about what disabled people can do.

The new characters are based on the unscripted voices of young disabled people talking about the issues that affect their lives. The first animation available on the website challenges public perceptions of disabled people, relationships and sex.

Leonard Cheshire Disability's new report on perceptions of disability and relationships, Up Close and Personal, challenges long-held assumptions that disabled people don't - or can't - have a relationship. Key findings include:

• Disabled people have exactly the same hopes and anxieties about relationships as non-disabled people.
• Two thirds (68 per cent) of disabled respondents have relationships with non-disabled people.
• Both disabled and non-disabled people have low expectations of disabled people's relationships.

The Aardman team has created another four characters for the charity's campaign including a blind chameleon, an owl and a shrimp in wheelchairs, and a hearing impaired Cheshire cat.

From next Wednesday and throughout the summer the characters will appear in adverts on ITV, online and at bus stops in the UK. The adverts will be gradually revealed online over the next two weeks. So, to see them first, keep checking back at www.CreatureDiscomforts.org.