Two Emmerdale stars are hoping to bring attention to a very important cause by sharing personal videos with fans alongside new episodes of the ITV soap
Emmerdale is highlighting Dear Awareness Week, which runs from 4 – 10 May, with informative videos starring soap star Laura Norton, who plays Kerry Pollard, as she teaches British Sign Language to her co-star Mike Parr, who plays Ross Barton.
Norton recently said she was “thrilled” about the idea of creating a series of educational videos for Emmerdale fans: “Deaf Awareness Week is important to us, as both of our children have been diagnosed with hearing loss and they both wear hearing aids.”
“Every deaf person’s experience is different, but one thing that we wanted to do as they got older was learn sign language and teach them to use it as well.”
The actress said BSL is a “wonderful skill to have” and a “beautiful language”. The actors are hoping to “promote awareness and inclusivity for the deaf community”.
Mike also confessed he became interested in taking BSL lessons after learning that Laura had been swotting up: “I was only too happy to agree when I was asked to create a video learning how to sign.”
“I was already aware that her two children had Usher Syndrome, and I know how important this is to her and her partner Mark. Laura is a great teacher, and I found our session quite easy to pick up, although I know I’ll have to practice to retain the information.”
Mike said he “strongly believes sign language should be taught at school” as it is “as useful as learning French, German, Spanish, or Latin.”
Videos of Laura and Mike learning BSL will be released throughout Deaf Awareness Week, with the first video linked here.
Emmerdale airs 8pm weeknights on ITV1 and STV or from 7am on ITVX, STV Player and YouTube.
Have you joined Threads? Follow Daily Star to keep up to date on all things showbiz here
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter
