Rose Ayling-Ellis has announced some very exciting news – and we can't wait to see her in action! The actress has confirmed that she will be the first celebrity to sign not one, but two stories on CBeebies Bedtime Story.
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The first episode will see the Strictly champion tell the story of a young bear and his dad on their journey into the discovery and management of deafness in Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus.
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The story is based on the author's own experience of being a deaf child in a hearing world, and Rose opened up about reading the book on the BBC. She said: "I am super excited to read my first CBeebies Bedtime Story in British Sign Language and it’s even more wonderful to share a story written by a deaf writer. I hope deaf children enjoy the story and it inspires hearing children to want to learn BSL more!"
The episode is set to air on Sunday 8 May to mark the end of Deaf Awareness Week, and will see Rose speaking only to introduce the story and to say goodnight, with the story fully using BSL.
Will you be watching Rose?
Rose has already shared a post to mark Deaf Awareness Week with an 'Allontheboard' poem which she helped to write. It reads: "Experiencing the 'dinner table syndrome' as a deaf person can cause feelings of frustration, trying to become numb to it may make you feel slightly better, but it doesn't improve the situation; pretending to understand what's going on and laughing when others are laughing too because you want to be involved in the conversation; the sound of silence can seem deafening."
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She concluded: "Just because someone is deaf they shouldn't feel desolation. Let's work together to bring everyone together with awareness, a better understanding and education, deaf people shouldn't just be seen as being deaf, they have feelings, thoughts, opinions and emotions like everyone else, we can learn so much from each other with open minds, kindness and consideration."
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