Former child actress, Melanie Watson, who became popular with the U.S. sitcom, Diff’rent Strokes, passed away at the age of 57 after her lifelong battle with brittle bone syndrome. Melanie suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare genetic disorder that causes bones to break very easily, and battled health problems throughout her life.
Melanie Watson revealed her struggle with a wheelchair
Melanie faced many challenges while filming Diff’rent Strokes. She once spoke about the accessibility challenges she faced while filming the long-running NBC sitcom as a disabled child actress in the 1980s. In the same interaction, Melanie also stated that she used a manual wheelchair, which often got tripped up on the ground cords. Speaking to IndieWire, Melanie revealed:
“Back in those days, I didn’t have a wheelchair. So I was carried everywhere.”
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