In this informal coffee‑chat, bionic model and presenter Tilly Lockey meets fellow prosthetic user Gracie McGonigal for the first time. Both discuss their personal journeys with limb difference—from early childhood memories of losing a hand or being born without one, through adolescent self‑consciousness, to embracing the hero arm as an extension of self. They compare past experiences with early, realistic prosthetics to the current blend of fashion and function offered by the Hero Arm, highlighting design elements like noise, lighting, and aesthetic appeal. The conversation touches on confidence building, the role of drama school and the Tej Kohli (Cody) Foundation in supporting their careers, and the playful social dynamics of being perceived as wearing a glove, including humorous handshake experiments. Overall, the dialogue underscores how prosthetic technology can empower identity, creativity, and public engagement.
Chapters
So today Tilly and her mum are down in London and she's invited me out for coffee and tea and a little girly chat to get to know each other for the first time, which is super exciting. So Tilly is a bionic model and public speaker about having a hero arm. She has an amazingly large following and she seems like a really inspirational person and and she's just someone who I'd really like to get to know. This is my first time ever meeting someone with a hero arm, and that's super exciting because to meet someone like me anyway is a really exciting thing. But for someone who's gone through this exact experience, that's so rare, and it'll be just really interesting to chat about it. Oh my gosh, stop! Look at those arms! Oh my God! For me, it's so exciting to meet you because I've never met anyone with a hero arm before. No way! Yeah, I know.
So I'm the first?
Yeah, you are my first ever, which is super exciting because, you know, kind of pick your brain.
You were born like that, right?
Yeah, I was.
Yeah, so I lost mine to a disease when I was born, so again, I was like really young, so the both of us don't really know any different.
Before your brain was developed. You just sort of were like, oh, brilliant.
Yeah, like, I think I have one memory having hands and it's not exciting. It's literally me eating a tomato for the first time, believe it or not. Yeah, I didn't like it either. I remember chucking it across the room. Did you have the really realistic prosthetics before this point?
Don't get me started.
Yeah, you didn't like them very much? No, no. I was the same, but I feel like obviously these are complete opposite to that, aren't they?
Yeah, I mean, it's about joining the fashion and the function.
Yeah, definitely.
Like, it's the mix of it. The fact that it looks this good but also works.
Even the noise.
I love the noise.
Like, I always say, these are all the kind of things that, like, aren't really considered normal. So it's like, why would you want a light on your hand? Why would you want it to be, like, loud? That's quite obnoxious. But actually, that's exactly what we want.
We are low-key obnoxious.
That's just— low-key obnoxious, deal with it, you know? So did you ever have like that kind of shy moment or like you realised that you were a little bit different and did you ever feel like down about that or?
When I was 15, are you 15?
Yeah.
You're 15. When I was 15, I mean, I just was hand behind back. Like I was still confident, I was still singing, I've been singing forever and still speaking but I definitely wasn't in the place that I am now which is so great for you to be there already. You know, go you for that, because it takes a hot minute.
Was that because, like, you were ashamed to be any different, or was it just because you didn't want to bring that much attention to yourself?
I wasn't ashamed, I just don't think I'd fully identified who I was and what I was going to be. I was very much in the school environment, and where difference is definitely not embraced. I felt like maybe I wasn't in the position where I could be fully fledged Gracie, fully outspoken, fully dressing crazy Gracie. But now, you know, I've taken myself away. Going to drama school definitely helped with that, and they were just like, be your full unapologetic self. And now I'm ready to take on the world.
I think I would say maybe my peak of trying to hide my limb difference and my difference in general was probably when I was like 13 years old, and it was never because I was ashamed, like you were never ashamed. It was more just I didn't want so many kids specifically like staring all the time, and now I get to accentuate that fact. Yeah, in a way that's really, really true to myself and who I am as a person.
I mean, it's so an extension of yourself. Yeah, and I definitely wouldn't have found out that without Tej Kohli and the foundation, which is which is amazing.
I have met Tej and I was— I did a little thing with him where we were helping another little boy get hands. So I met him and he's incredible at everything that he's been able to do to change your life and so many other people. And anybody who can come forward and has that ability to change someone's life, then that's incredible. And I think we encourage all of that, right?
The Tej Cody Foundation has come to me on the cusp of my career. Now I'm starting out and going to be an actor. You're gonna blow up. Hopefully, fingers crossed.
They're such like a, not only a part of me, but a part of my brand and like you say, like career and everything. It's part of the brand. Me being a presenter, I'm like holding a microphone in a vinyl glove.
Which is so cool.
It's actually quite funny, I find when I'm out and about, a lot of people do think they're just gloves.
What, people try and take it off you?
Yeah, I know. Well, I mean, no, I have done that before. It's like, oh, nice glove, and I'll just be like, oh, thanks. You have to do that. You have to try that at some point.
Halloween.
Oh yeah, but like even not Halloween, like in life, just scare people out of their skin.
It's quite funny.
I do recommend.
Do a little handshake?
Let's do it.
Let's give it a go. That's so exciting. It literally is. It's like, it's just a handshake, but it's so much fun.
It is, it is, it is.
It's so exciting.
Bye on a handshake. We need to make like a cooler one though, don't you think?
