Lost Voice Guy: 'Disabled community appreciates me taking the mick out of my disability'

Lee Ridley aka Lost Voice Guy, who recently won Britain’s Got Talent has revealed that the “disabled community appreciates someone who can take the mick out of themselves more than most, because they know how it feels.”

Lee, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was six months old, is the first comedian to win Britain’s Got Talent.

As he is unable to speak, he uses a speech synthesizer and said on the show: “When I am performing, it’s as if I have finally found my voice, and it’s a great feeling making people laugh”.

The 37-year-old from Newcastle was already a successful comedian before appearing on the ITV talent show, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013 and recently writing the semi-autobiographical comedy Ability for Radio 4.

In an interview with Blackwood, a leading housing and care provider in Scotland, Lee who mocks his disability and wears humorous t-shirts saying ‘I’m only in it for the parking’ and ‘I was disabled before it was popular’ said: "I have had nothing but positive reactions from the disabled community. I think they quite like seeing someone with a similar viewpoint to them."

He also said that one of the main reasons for his self-deprecating humour is “because it helps deal with the elephant in the room early on. Some people aren’t quite sure how to take me when I come on stage. sometimes you can hear the gasp, come from the audience, when I walk on to the stage.

'An early joke about my disability puts everyone at ease'

“I think that helps though, because they don't know what to expect. So when I hopefully make them laugh, I think they enjoy it more. But I think an early joke about my disability puts everyone at ease a bit more. Ideally, I’d like to see a day when I don’t have to do that, but I think that’s a problem with society as a whole, and we’re a long way off fixing that.”

Lee who calls himself a stand up comedian who struggles to stand up first took to the stage six years ago. From that moment on he was hooked, saying: “After performing my first gig and getting the reaction that I did, I couldn’t sleep at all that night because I was on such a high. So, I think I knew then that the stand-up comedy bug had got me!”

In his interview with Blackwood on its online community site bespoken, Lee revealed the aftermath of Britain’s Got Talent has been a “been a pretty crazy time”.

He said: “I’m drowning in phone notifications from people telling me how much they enjoy my sets, which is a nice feeling.

People's reactions have been 'breathtaking'

“The positive reaction has been breathtaking and I never expected to make such an impact.”

Max Brown, chair of Blackwood which works to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, called Lee Ridley “a truly inspirational character” and said he represents everything Blackwood believe in.

“He demonstrates that a disability should never be able to hold anyone back and will hopefully encourage others to try things they didn’t think were possible.

“At Blackwood, we are passionate about and driven by providing opportunities and helping disabled people living their lives to the full.”

One of Blackwood’s flagship projects is Clevercogs - a digitally enhanced care system. The smart system is operated by touch screen and improves people’s independence by helping them control how their own care is delivered. They can use it to communicate with their family and friends, monitor their health and control their home by switching on the lights and contacting their care provider with the touch of a button.