Poster to be unveiled at Holborn Eye

Images of Paralympic athletes are plastered on London billboards ahead of the Games, but images of disabled models remain largely absent.

But now one group wants to change that.

Models for Diversity is putting a billboard image of an amputee model across lanes of traffic at the Holborn Eye, in central London.

Founder Angel Sinclair wants to highlight discrimination in the modelling industry against men and women who are way outside the generic model-type.

“This might be the only time people see a disabled model this year and I’m proud to be able to demonstrate disability is no barrier to beauty.”

“The Paralympics challenges previous notions of who can be an athlete. It is the ideal setting to get people thinking about who can be a model.

“How often do we see a model in a magazine, in an advert or on the catwalk with a disability?

“It’s unfair on those models and doesn’t represent society; our street surveys showed 68% of people believed there should be more models with a disability in the fashion and beauty industry.”

At the heart of the poster is Debbie van der Putten. She featured in BBC Britain’s Missing Top Model.

The billboard shall be display at the Holborn Eye for five days from tomorrow (Wednesday.)