A SALISBURY teenager is to star in a new TV series on BBC Three which she hopes will challenge perceptions of disability.

Molly Lane is part of The Unbreakables, which follows the lives of teenagers with disabilities at National Star College in Gloucestershire.

The series starts on BBC Three tonight at 9pm.

The 18-year-old, who has just finished her second year at National Star, said: “It’s important to show people that young people with disability aren’t so different. I think that that will really surprise people."

Molly is studying a BTEC Level 1 in creative arts and her dream is to become an artist.

“Ever since I was a little kid I loved art,” she added.

The teenager, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, went to mainstream school but said the experience was difficult.

“Mainstream was difficult because they just didn’t see any disability as positive. They just said ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘you can’t do that’,” she said.

“At National Star it is completely different. There is such a positive atmosphere and here they say ‘you may not be able to do this that way but we’ll find a way so that you can’.”

In her two years Molly says she has grown in confidence and is a member of the college student union as well as being involved in other activities.

She added: “When I came to National Star I was quite shy. I always knew my own mind but I was often encouraged to just keep quiet and not make a fuss. But here at National Star my confidence has really grown and I am far more outgoing.”

Molly’s family had to fight for local authority funding for her to attend the specialist college but she says the battle was worth it.

“My dream is to go into supported living and get a job in art. With my experience and training at National Star I now think I can achieve that," she said.

The Unbreakables is part of the Defying the Label season.