Rose Ayling-Ellis says her deafness was sometimes “forgotten about” during her time on EastEnders.
The 27-year-old says she doesn’t blame the BBC soap, in which she played Frankie Lewis.
Rose went on to win Strictly Come Dancing and is now keen to increase awareness of the requirements of the deaf community.
READ MORE: EastEnders icon quits BBC soap after three years on the square in shock exit
And she insists that further progress requires more than just on-screen representation, with a lack of deaf staff behind the scenes contributing to a “system” which allowed her deafness to be overlooked on occasion.
Rose told Metro: “The thing is, I wasn’t well known, I didn’t have that much experience, but EastEnders took me on and made me a regular.
(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
“That is brilliant for EastEnders to do that, because they gave me an opportunity to show that I’m capable of doing it.
“And then it gave me the opportunity to be on Strictly. If it wasn’t for EastEnders, that wouldn’t have happened. So thank you to EastEnders.
“But it’s so fast [paced], there are so many writers and so many directors. I played a character, which is fantastic.
“I had a storyline, but sometimes my deafness got forgotten about a bit. And that is not EastEnders’ fault. It’s the system.
(Image: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock for NTA)
“There’s nobody deaf and disabled behind the screen. That taught me a lot about how in the future – to be the first you’re setting up something, but now you have to keep building it up. What’s the next step? Because we can’t go backwards.”
After two years on the soap, Rose left EastEnders earlier this year but she is open to the possibility of returning one day.
“Who knows? I think, really, it depends on what the work opportunity is,” she added. “I genuinely don’t know!”
(Image: Instagram)
Rose recently announced her new role in the Shakespeare play As You Like It housed in the West End theatre Soho House this winter.
Taking to her Instagram, Rose shared a slew of snaps of herself rehearsing the show backstage in full view of her 543k followers online.
Alongside the carousel of sweet snaps, she captioned the cheeky post: “Shakespeare make my brain goes [mind blown emoji], but I love it! Creativity is my happy place [heart emoji].”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
