About
Alison Lapper MBE is an artist, television presenter, speaker and
Gig-Arts Charity patron.
Alison has a First Class Honors Degree in Fine Art and is a member of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. Click here to find out more about her artwork.
In 2016, after featuring as a subject in many documentaries throughout her life, Alison began a new career as a presenter for television. She co-presented No Body's Perfect for BBC4 with the photographer Rankin, followed by her own take on William Blake for Sky Arts in 2017. Click here to find out more about Alison's television career. Alison combines her speaker career with her passion for charitable work. Click here to find out more about her charity work.
She is a well known public figure and regularly gives talks about her life. Born with no arms and shortened legs, Alison was institutionalised at six weeks old and spent her next 17 years at Chailey Heritage in Sussex. At the age of 19, she obtained a driving licence and her own flat, and began to live her daily life independently. Audiences at her talks range from the Royal College of Midwives to local voluntary groups. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a talk with Alison.
Her autobiography My Life in My Hands (Simon & Schuster, 2006) has been translated into 9 languages, and can be purchased here.
In 2005, artist and friend, Marc Quinn, erected the statue Alison Lapper Pregnant in Trafalgar Square. He wanted the statue on the Fourth Plinth to celebrate “someone who has conquered their own circumstances, rather than someone who has conquered the outside world”.
In 2012, an inflatable replica of the statue was a centrepiece in the London 2012 Paralympic Games opening ceremony.
ITV Meridien News: Remarkable Women, 4th March 2019