Love Island’s Patsy is “looking forward” to talking about her disability on show
Patsy Field is among the 12 contestants set to enter the Love Island villa on Monday 3rd June, and she is hoping to use the platform to raise awareness about Erb’s Palsy, a condition that she lives with.
Erb’s Palsy, also known as Brachial Plexus Paralysis, is a condition which can occur due to “birth trauma” and can affect “one or all five of the primary nerves that supply the movement and feeling to an arm”, according to Erb’s Palsy Group.
In an interview with RadioTimes.com and other press, Patsy opened up about her disability, explaining it happened during birth but she has since accepted it as “a part” of who she is. She explained: “From there, I have had quite a few operations, muscle transplants, nerve transplants, to get it to where it is now, which I’m pretty happy with. It’s just something that I’ve had all of my life, that I get on with, and I don’t know any different – so it’s just day to day for me, it’s quite a small part of who I am.”
When asked about representing those who also have Erb’s Palsy on such a big platform like Love Island, Patsy said she is “really looking forward to be able to speak about it” to whoever she meets in the villa. “Hopefully people will be able to watch that and understand from my explanation a little bit more about it,” she told RadioTimes.com and other press. “I’m really hoping that there is going to be people all over the country and wherever else who have got similar things or a lot of people with this exact same condition, who will see me doing something like this and be like, ‘Wow, OK, I never thought that I would ever go for something like that, and she’s doing it and she’s so confident and she’s very body confident. And I can be the same. And I could do things like that as well.'”
Love Island returns on Monday 3rd June at 9pm on ITV1, ITV2, ITVX, STV and STV Player. Seasons 1-10 are available to watch on ITVX. You can watch all previous seasons of Love Island on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial.