Former EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis has opened up about her experiences of being deaf and said that she is often underestimated by people who don't know her
Rose Ayling-Ellis has highlighted the thoughtless conduct of some individuals in her profession who mistakenly believe she’s oblivious to their conversations, assuming she cannot hear them.
The former Eastenders actress, who has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, opened up about her experiences in the industry during a conversation with the Observer. She mentioned there had been moments on set that were distressing, but viewed people’s misunderstanding of deaf individuals as an advantage.
Rose told the Observer: "I'm more aware of my environment than people think. If I'm on a film set and people are behaving badly, they think I can't hear them.
"Actually, I'm very aware of what's going on. That's a secret power of being deaf. You know far more than people assume."
Rose, 30, also voiced her strong opposition to non-deaf actors portraying deaf characters, feeling that it's unlikely she’d be cast to portray someone without a hearing impairment, reports Kent Live.
She added: "It's never OK. I would never get to play a hearer, so why do they get to play my role? It's annoying when people say: 'Well, that's the whole point of acting.'
"Being deaf isn't a job. It isn't a costume. It's part of your identity. Only three disabled actors have won an Oscar in its 96-year history, whereas 27 non-disabled actors have won for playing disabled characters. It's outrageous."
Rose hasn’t just made waves in acting; she's an author of children’s books and has graced TV screens on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who. She is currently starring in a new ITV drama as a deaf woman whose proficiency in lip-reading sees her talents enlisted by the police.
In an interview with Radio Times, Rose expressed her enthusiasm about her latest project.
She commented: "I've wanted to do something like this for a long time. I've been acting for about 13 years. When I've done theatre, I've always had a small role and it used to frustrate me because I feel that there's a story out there that's not being told.
"I needed to show everyone I can do this. Normally, when you get a script about lip-reading, it can make you feel a bit on edge. But the fact that this one captured how hard lip-reading is, and how it's like a puzzle, and [showed] how you work it out, really drew me to it."
Rose, known for her role as Frankie Lewis in EastEnders, also discussed the ongoing discrimination faced by the deaf community and her efforts to change perceptions.
She stated: "There's a lot of prejudice. You're slow because of the environment that you're in. Everyone else is making it slow - it's not yourself."
She went on to say: "That's why I say I love being deaf. There's no problem with being deaf at all. It's my environment that makes it harder for me to be deaf."
Catch Rose in the gripping thriller Code of Silence airing tonight on ITV at 9pm (Sunday, May 18).
