After her fame went through the roof thanks to a winning turn on Strictly Come Dancing, Rose Ayling-Ellis is now one of the foremost figures in raising awareness around deafness in the UK. Now Rose has appeared in a special episode of Loose Women for Deaf Awareness Week and viewers are all saying the same thing.
In a first for Loose Women, the show was fully accessible with a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter on screen and in the studio. There was also a special ad break with subtitled adverts appearing from HSL, Cadburys Fingers, McCains, Boots Hearingcare and Aldi.
Viewers loved seeing Rose on the show and have called for her to return as a guest panellist again. One said: "How great was @RoseAylingEllis on Loose Women today! What an amazing panellist. Let’s have her on more often, she’s an absolute breath of fresh air not to mention an inspiration!"
Another said: "@loosewomen can you please have rose ayling Ellis back on the show soon she was brilliant." and: "Rose should become a regular panelist on #loosewomen". A fourth said: "PLEASE give rose a permanent panelist role!! she’s so funny and also is so inspiring to not just the deaf community but to ALL of us" and another added: "#LooseWomen @RoseAylingEllis is a lovely, funny lady. She's a ray of sunshine on today's show. She should be a regular definitely."
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Rose was joined on the panel by Kaye Adams, Jane Moore and Nadia Sawalha and they discussed the subject of loneliness in the Deaf community and the importance of seeking help for hearing loss early on, as well as other Loose Women topics. At the end of the show Kaye, Jane and Nadia said they had learnt a lot from Rose.
Rose said: "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. Would my career have happened if I wasn’t deaf? I think a lot of hearing people could learn a lot from deaf people. I think deaf people know how to communicate well. People think that listening is through your ear but actually, there are so many ways to communicate."
“It’s a culture and a community, and it’s something I belong to. When you try to fit me to make me more hearing, I don’t belong to it. I never will. So instead of trying to help me overcome my deafness, let me embrace my deafness.”
The star spoke about her childhood and what it was like growing up deaf. She said: “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.”
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