Disability in 2012: Francesca Martinez

Francesca Martinez is serious about her comedy. “It’s what I do and who I am,” she says. “I think humour is a fundamental human right. It’s a big part of the way I handle my difference.”

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As a child growing up with cerebral palsy, Francesca used laughter to deflect school bullies and mark out her identity. “I thought if I was cheeky or said really funny things, I would get the respect I craved. So I went out of my way to make people laugh.”

At 33, Francesca is a successful comedian, writer and actor, well known for roles in television series like Grange Hill and Extras. But she says the rawness of stand-up, which allows comics to challenge and change attitudes, is what truly defines her as a performer.

“It really irks me when I’m seen as a pity object,” she says. “So if the audience feels sorry for me when I walk out on stage because I’m wobbly, I use humour to question why. By the time I walk off, I want them to see the person beyond the wobbles.”

What is normal?

Francesca’s latest show: What the **** is Normal? is her most honest to date. Charting the years she spent trying to fit into a society obsessed with perfection, it questions whether normality really exists and asks the audience to consider its own imperfections.

“Everyone is struggling with that journey of ‘Who am I?’ ‘Do I like myself? Ironically, disabled people tend to be more self-accepting. From an early age, we’re forced to decide whether to sink to the floor in despair or just get on with life.” She laughs. “I realise that none of this sounds funny, but I promise you the show is!”

Being different was both a help and a hindrance when Francesca was starting out. As the first wobbly female comedian, she attracted press attention but also felt pressured to be twice as funny as everyone else. “I soon realised an audience doesn’t laugh for an hour out of pity. If you’re funny, they laugh. If you’re not, they fall silent or heckle. I like that honesty with stand up.”

Right now, as the Paralympic Games closes in a shower of gold medals and fireworks, disabled athletes are the stars of our television screens. But Francesca believes the media – which reaches millions and has the power to normalise difference – is not doing nearly enough to promote disabled performers working in other fields.

“I’ve been told by BBC comedy shows that I’ll make the audience nervous,” she says. “I get it because people do still fear difference, but I think television bosses vastly underestimate us viewers. If you put someone with talent on TV, that talent will shine through. People are fed up of the same old slice of human representation.”

Changing attitudes

There’s no doubt that Francesca’s comedy has political bite. An outspoken opponent of welfare reform and the benefit scrounging rhetoric pedalled by the government, she uses her public profile to raise issues about disability and fight for a fairer system.

“It’s a scary, dark time for disabled people,” she says. “Already a third of disabled adults live in poverty. That’s disgraceful and with the new cuts, that figure can only rise. It breaks my heart that some of the most vulnerable people in society are being demonised and used as scapegoats. It’s something everybody needs to fight against.”

For Francesca, the key to comedy as a platform for change is ensuring it resonates with an audience long after they leave the theatre. This, she says, is when attitudes truly begin to change. “I want people to go home questioning the lazy-minded thinking behind what’s different and what’s normal.

“I think disability’s normal, it’s always existed. It’s not abnormal because it’s part of life. Of course it brings struggles, but many of those struggles come from society not knowing how to handle difference or how to support it.

“That’s why live performance is so special. It gives me the freedom to say what I like. Because the serious issues I deal with are in joke form – as opposed to lecture form – people seem more receptive to it. If I can say things that need saying and change attitudes for the better, then that gives meaning to my life.

“I try to live with the philosophy of no regrets. If it all ended tomorrow I’d think, ‘Yeah, I did exactly what I wanted to do.’”