DISABLED athlete Clare Strange hopes good will come out of Glenn Hoddle's dismissal for saying handicapped people were paying for the sins of a past life.

Clare, 18, of Bottom Road, Radnage, is wheelchair-bound after breaking her spine in a horseriding accident.

She fought back to win The Sunday Times Inspiration award for female athletes in December, a year after the accident.

Clare said: "Hoddle's comments were foolish and ridiculous but people may end up benefiting from what he said. He has made the public much more aware of their attitudes to disabled people."

She added: "Disabled people have perfectly good lives and don't want to be treated any differently.

"I would like to know how Hoddle would feel if he had a child who was born disabled or became so through an accident.

"Would he be as willing to spout the kind of things he said last week?"

Her mother Caroline is annoyed that Hoddle is leaving with a severance payment from the FA reported to be in the region of £600,000.

She said: "Hoddle is a foolish man who tried to wriggle out of the pain he's caused people in a very patronising way. The Football Association have made the right decision but I don't see why he has to leave with so much money."

Hoddle was sacked as England's football coach on Tuesday night after 36 hours of discussion over his comments. FA chief executive David Davies said it was the right decision for English football.

David Griffin, co-ordinator of Shopmobility in High Wycombe, said: "It is very difficult to express an opinion without all the facts. But if he did make those comments he got what was due to him. If I had said something like that I would not find myself in my job for long."

Alison Lewis, chairman of Wycombe Area Access For All, said: "If any good comes out of his dismissal, it maybe that more people in positions of power will think before they speak."

David Richardson, of High Wycombe Mencap, said: "His remarks were insensitive but I cannot see that any direct harm has been done except to Glenn Hoddle and in a roundabout way he may have helped by drawing attention to the lack of understanding surrounding the issue of handicap."

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