Disability advocate Sophie Morgan criticises Cat Deeley for her ‘inappropriate’ choice of words when discussing Jesy Nelson’s twins following their SMA diagnosis

Disability advocate Sophie Morgan criticized Cat Deeley for her ‘inappropriate’ choice of words when discussing the diagnosis of Jesy Nelson’s twins on Thursday.

Former Little Mix star Jesy, 34, confirmed her twin children with partner Zion Foster, eight-month-old daughters Ocean Jade and Story, were diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) last week.

Jesy has since highlighted the UK’s failure to test for SMA1 (Spinal Muscular Atrophy Disease Type 1) at birth; this app is currently available in 45 countries worldwide, including the United States.

Cat said ‘disabled children could live normal lives’ if a screening process for SMA was introduced as she and co-host Ben Shephard discussed Jesy’s campaign on This Morning.

While Sophie and other disability advocates noted that Cat did not mean anything malicious, they shared their disappointment with her choice of language and added that more disabled broadcasters should be featured on television.

The 40-year-old presenter, who was paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident, insisted Cat’s comments were considered offensive to disabled people and that disabled people live normal lives.

Cat said ‘disabled children could live normal lives’ if a screening process for SMA was introduced as she and co-host Ben Shephard discussed Jesy’s campaign on This Morning.

Sophie and other disability advocates shared their disappointment with Cat’s choice of language, although they noted that she did not mean anything malicious.

Cat said: ‘That was interesting Nick [Ferrari] because I was researching it before I spoke to Jesy yesterday and it’s available in 43 countries around the world. Available in the United States since 2023.

‘So in the name of 36p, it seems ridiculous to me that we’re not already doing this, especially at a time when time is of the essence and treatment is available so children can live normal lives.’

Frances Ryan, a disabled columnist for the Guardian, first criticized This Morning for not including a disabled broadcaster in the program – particularly when talking about people living with disabilities.

She wrote on Instagram Stories on Thursday: ‘I’m sure @catdeeley means nothing but kindness here but it’s worth noting that the children ‘could have lived normal lives’ is not an appropriate phrase.

‘Disabled children CAN have careers, marriages and spouses. But they will face structural barriers and (sometimes) physical pain and suffering to achieve them.

‘This is one of the reasons why it is vital to have disabled journalists in the media. Here are four non-disabled people discussing how disability impacts lives (one of whom has argued for years to cut disability benefits).

‘A lot of people like Cat will have good intentions, but you need people in the room who can bring subtleties and knowledge that can only come from lived experience.’

Resharing the message on her Instagram account, Sophie wrote: ‘Be careful @frances.ryan85. We also need disabled people BEHIND the camera to ensure behind-the-scenes discussions are nuanced. ‘It takes a team.’

Former Little Mix star Jesy, 34, has confirmed that her twin children with partner Zion Foster, eight-month-old daughters Ocean Jade and Story, have been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Jesy (postpartum picture) with her twins and fiancé Zion Foster

Jesy has since been praised by parents of other affected children across the UK who highlighted the issue when she recently appeared on the ITV program This Morning, with many stunned by the affordability of SMA1 testing.

In a post reshared by Nelson on the Instagram platform, follower Katie Hughes, the mother of a young boy living with the condition, described the revelation as ‘devastating and shocking’.

He added: ‘It doesn’t really take anything to change the course of a 36p child’s life, right? I burst into tears when I watched this. I felt sick because 36p could have drastically changed our little boy’s life.

‘And that would change the lives of so many young children out there and what they experience on a daily basis. ‘It makes me angry that we’re talking about such a small amount, I didn’t realize it was that small.’

On Sunday, Jesy told her social media followers that after ‘the most grueling three or four months’, their daughter had been diagnosed with SMA1.

The disease causes progressive muscle weakness and wasting due to motor neuron loss, but with early treatment they could have ‘saved their leg’.

Later appearing on This Morning, she revealed that Great Ormond Street doctors had advised her daughters that because the diagnosis was not made at birth, they would ‘probably never walk or regain their neck strength, so they would be disabled’.

Speaking on the ITV programme, she said: ‘The part that frustrates me the most is that I knew before I knew what SMA was and I saw all the signs.

Health Minister Wes Streeting has since admitted that Nelson was “right to question and criticize how long it took to get a diagnosis”.

Jesy and her partner Zion noticed symptoms such as their twins’ bow legs and unusual breathing, but were reassured by health visitors and GPs that because their babies were born prematurely they could be delayed in reaching certain milestones and not to compare their children to others.

‘I could have potentially saved your legs. I don’t think I can get over this or accept it. All I can do is try my best and make changes.

‘It was weird because from the time I was in the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit]They were in frog legs position as they lay on my chest.

‘I said to my mother: ‘Isn’t their belly an unusual shape? ‘They breathe from their belly.’

Sharing a video of one of the girls breathing, she admitted, “this is what’s frustrating for me, it would be easier for me to accept it if there were always cards to be dealt to me and there was nothing I could do about it.”

‘But when you know there is something that can be done about it and it will change your child’s life, that’s a point I can’t accept.

‘When I took them home from the NICU the only thing I was really worried about was checking their temperature and making sure they were still breathing. I’m not checking to see if your legs are still moving…’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since admitted that Jesy was “right to question and criticize how long it took to receive a diagnosis”.

The cabinet minister said he was “committed not just to SMA screening but to making much better use of genomic medicine”.

Newborn screening for SMA is not available in the UK, but Scotland has announced that babies will be screened from spring.

The UK National Screening Committee does not recommend screening, but has initiated a study to re-evaluate this due to advances in treatment.

Streeting told ITV News: ‘My heart goes out to Jesy Nelson and I think the way she spoke about what must have been an unimaginably frightening situation was commendable, especially as there will be other parents going through what she went through I think she will be hugely interested in what she has to say.

‘He challenged us to go further on screening, and he is right to do so.