A modern day freak show.

MAT Fraser went looking for answers but didn't find them. Throughout history, disabled people have worked as entertainers but always been known as freaks, not actors.

Fraser, who is an actor, was born with phocomelia. He has seal-like flippers in place of arms. That makes him just like Sealo the seal boy, who began exhibiting himself in 1925 at the age of eight and worked in freak shows for nearly 50 years.

So was he exploited because of his disability or did he exploit his disability to earn a living? The days when disability was thought to be the work of the devil may have gone, but disabled actors were limited in what they would do or were allowed to do. Freak shows were the only place they could have a starring role.

If you had a skill, it could be exploited. Legless Jack was a star turn whose physical strength and acrobatic skills delighted crowds. Armless John Chambers would shave, uncork a bottle and pour a glass of wine with his feet in front of an audience.

They were two of the "human curiosities" that Victorians paid money to see, and were often shrewd businessmen and women who were the celebrities of their day.

Sometimes they got it wrong. When Elephant Man John Merrick was put on display, he had no talent to display. People were expected to be astonished by his physically deforming medical condition. The authorities shut down the show because he repulsed rather than entertained.

Fraser's search took him through the history of freak show performers, culminating in him playing Sealo himself in the only permanent freak show left in America.

He met a country music singer attempting to break into the mainstream as a musician. Reba Schappell doesn't intend to let the fact that she's joined to her sister Lori at the head prevent her achieving singing success. She wants to be judged on her talent not her disability.