Cherylee Houston, who plays Izzy Armstrong on the ITV soap, has been using a wheelchair since she was diagnosed with the rare connective tissue disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, when she was 23.
Although she can sometimes stand and take some steps, the condition causes severe pain in the joints meaning a wheelchair is the only way she can be mobile.
However, when one man spotted her taking a few steps, he decided that this was grounds enough to visit the soap star’s home and hurl abuse at her.
Taking to Twitter, Cherylee wrote: "Wow disability hate crime knocked on our front door today, literally.
“Scary as shows how much our country's instinct is to hate not think."
After an outpouring of messages from conceded fans, Cherylee explained that she hadn’t been home at the time and that her partner had been forced to deal with it.
But the altercation, understandably, left her shaken.
She tweeted: “Oh bless you all, I’m alright. I'm a little shaken but I wasn't even there!
“Thank you all for kind thoughts. It was Toby who got it all.”
Explaining what had taken place, she said: “Man knocked angry say he'd seen me walk a few steps to my wchair, apparently taken a photo of me & is going to report me for benefits cheat! [sic]
“He was very rude to Toby and obviously disgusted that I wasn't paralysed.
“Said it wasn't right and he was going to papers. Vile. Ignorant.”
Cherylee added some of the ignorant man’s quotes, saying: "I'm not being funny, right, but did I just see someone walk out the door then get into a wheelchair?
“I took a photo, I'll send it to the papers. I saw her, plain as day. Who are you calling an idiot, she's on the fiddle.”
The actress, who received a lot of support from fans and co-star Sally Ann Matthews, now hopes her experience will raise awareness about disability abuse.
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