Alternative MacTaggart Lecturer Rose Ayling-Ellis Reveals Crushing Pressure Since Becoming “The Poster Girl For The Deaf Community” – Edinburgh TV Festival

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Alternative MacTaggart lecturer Rose Ayling-Ellis has revealed the crushing pressure of feeling like “the poster girl for the deaf community” as she urged the TV world to “be braver and have the courage to make changes.”The deaf Strictly Come Dancing winner and EastEnders actor told of a string of examples of how representation and access can be improved for disabled talent in the UK TV sector as she became the first disabled person to deliver the alternative address previously helmed by the likes of Russell Brand and Jerry Springer.Having won the BBC’s biggest entertainment show last Christmas and captured the nation’s hearts, she has had a whirlwind year but questioned “how many deaf characters have we seen on TV since?”“Although [Strictly] was a beautiful experience, the aftermath hasn’t always been,” she revealed.“I was thrown to suddenly find myself considered a deaf pioneer, the poster girl for the deaf community.

It came with new pressures that I’d never experienced before.”Ellis, who is EastEnders’ first and only regular deaf character, revealed programs in development have been cancelled over the past year because she had “decided not to be part of them.”“Saying no meant other deaf people lost opportunities too and it leaves me feeling guilty and conflicted,” she said, in a heartfelt address.Ellis, who chose to speak the lecture rather than use BSL, pointed out that there are 11M deaf or hard of hearing people in the UK but just 201 on acting database Spotlight, of which 56 use BSL.She said she was rejected from Spotlight for years as she “didn’t go to drama school or have an agent, yet I couldn’t get into drama school because it was not accessible.”“How is a young deaf actor supposed to get their foot in the