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Mail signs up 16-year-old disabled columnist

The Burton Mail has signed up a 16-year-old disabled boy to write a weekly column in the paper.

John Clarke, who was born with cerebral palsy, had his first column published in the Mail on Tuesday.

The paper’s deputy editor (content) Andy Parker said: “We want to be able to reflect all sorts of viewpoints. John’s column offers a view of the world from the perspective of a disabled person which we felt we didn’t have in the paper.

“We have a variety of columns covering different news angles but appreciate we have a lot of disabled readers. John is obviously well capable of writing the column.”

Andy said the idea for the column came about when John’s headmaster at John Taylor High School in Barton-under-Needwood suggested it to the paper.

He said: “His headmaster said he is quite an exceptional pupil and had expressed an interest in getting involved in the newspaper.

“John is quite an active figure at his school and we’ve done stories about things his family have done for him before so we already knew of him.

“In his first column he calls himself the ‘wheelchair terrorist’, which is a nickname he picked up at school, and he introduces himself.

“We’re looking forward to his next column where he is going to explain how he rides a bike.”

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