Rose Ayling-Ellis opened up about being deaf as she joined Loose Women as a panellist today.
Rose joined Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha and Jane Moore in a first for Loose Women, as viewers were able to watch a fully accessible version of the show on ITV1 and ITVX, with an ‘in vision’ signer on-screen and subtitles available.
The actress revealed that mental health issues are more prevalent in the deaf community and put this down to this to “isolation, not being included”.
“A lot of people assume that your problem is that you can’t hear. But it’s more the attitude. For example, with customer service on the phone, it’s really difficult. I can call them through my interpreter but they just think you’re a scammer or hacker and hang up on you. When you don’t meet me halfway, I feel more isolated…
“If someone offered me the chance to become hearing, I would say no. I love being deaf. It’s a part of who I am.”
Rose also spoke about British Sign Language becoming an official language not long after she won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021.
“We’d been fighting for that law for a long time, but no one was aware of it and I think after Strictly everyone was more excited about it and everyone was shocked it wasn’t an official language.”
She also noted that she had “very few deaf role models” when she was young.
“I didn’t have anyone to look up to on a TV and when I did it was normally really early in the morning that they’d have the interpreter on. It wasn’t exposed much and it should have been a lot more. But now, I can’t imagine what it’s like for a child to not have a deaf Barbie, to have CBeebies that is in sign language.”
Celebrity sketch artist Chris Lloyd revealed a picture he had drawn of the panel at the end of the show – and Rose was told it was a gift to remember her time on the show.
The special episode of Loose Women to mark Deaf Awareness Week was set up with the support of hearing loss charities RNID and SignHealth.
