FANS of The Last Leg know Alex Brooker well for his quick wit on the Channel 4 show.
The comedian is known for having a disability, but not many know the story of how he came to lose his leg.
What is Alex Brooker’s disability?
Alex Brooker was born with hand and arm deformities.
He also had a twisted right leg, which had to be amputated when he was a baby.
Alex now wears a prosthetic leg.
Despite a childhood spent having multiple operations and checkups at Great Ormond Street hospital, Alex has not had any problems since.
What has Alex said about his disability?
Speaking to The Guardian in 2020 about his disability, Alex said: “Most days I don’t think about my disability at all, but doing that swim brought it clearly into focus.
“It made me realise it was time now, as a father of two, to take more responsibility over my disability and to find out more about it.”
He went on to talk about his fears when he was about to become a father for the first time and said: “When my wife was pregnant, I remember going to the scans and these doctors would be checking that my child wouldn’t be deformed like me – even though my disability isn’t genetic – and that makes you so self-conscious of everything.
“I would be worrying I might drop the kids or how they would react to me being different.”
What is the documentary Alex Brooker: Disability and Me about?
In this very personal documentary Alex Brooker examines his disability to acknowledge for the first time how much it impacts on who he is.
He revisits key moments from his past, uncovering both joyful and difficult memories.
Having conversations with family and friends that he has never had before, Alex engages with elements of his disability he has avoided until now.
Turning to the present, Alex explores what it really means to be disabled in the UK today.
By the end of the documentary, he has a new perspective on being a disabled person and the role it will play for his sense of self over the rest of his life.
You can watch it tonight (August 31, 2021) on BBC Two at 9pm.
