When the BBC online message boards began filling with unpleasant posts from aggrieved parents objecting to the presence of a young woman who was born without a hand fronting pre-school television, the presenter herself, Cerrie Burnell, did not feel hurt at all.

She says many people tentatively warned her about the comments, wondering whether she should read them at all. But the 29-year-old who last month took over the Do and Discover Slot and the Bedtime Hour on the BBC's digital channel CBeebies was not fazed. For her the criticisms on the CBeebies website were "not personal" and represented "the same kind of discrimination any disabled person would face."

One father said he would ban his daughter from watching the channel because Burnell would "give [his daughter] nightmares". Another said it would "scare the kids" while another parent blamed "political correctness".

Burnell is adamant that she will not hide her disability away. But did the remarks really not hurt her?

"It was nothing I hadn't heard before," she said. "I never liked a prosthetic arm and even as a child I never wanted to wear it. It was the bane of my life, an unhelpful and heavy part of my school uniform as I saw it, and at nine I stopped wearing it.

"Some adults said that maybe I should wear it because other children might not like it, so I have heard the same arguments that were on the message boards for a number of years now. I had to take it off for PE anyway and no one in my class minded all. Kids learn very quickly."

The mother of a five-month-old daughter called Amelie, Burnell clearly does not need educating about children, or indeed the finer points of popular attitudes to, and the realities of, disability.

Being born without a hand (for no identifiable reason - "it just happened") has never hampered her, she says, and has always been an "aesthetic, not a physical problem" for the actress, who enjoyed a stable upbringing in London and Eastbourne (her father, now retired, helps look after Amelie when she is filming).

"But I have a political understanding of the situation and the problem is global," she said. "The important thing to face is the fact that there are enough disabled people being represented in the media. I know so many talented disabled actors who simply aren't getting the chances and the problem is that not enough parts and roles are being written for disabled actors."

She said: "Desperate Housewives has been running a storyline in which a character went blind and has now recovered their sight. Why couldn't they have introduced a blind character to the role? Because those actors are out there and they are not getting seen. There's a fear that casting a disabled actor into a non-disabled role might distract from the story but unless you do it we won't find out."

Part of the blame for these attitudes, she feels, rests with the media, particularly magazines "obsessed with the perfect body" and cosmetic surgery ironing out any supposed imperfections. But the battles that she feels have largely been won for multiracial casting on television need to now be urgently fought for disabled people.

"I am pleased that this whole thing with me has raised the issue and that attention has been drawn to the fact that disabled people in this country do face real prejudice."Her message for those commenting on website message boards is that she hopes the controversy will help other people "see the person and not the disability".