Staffordshire deafness charity praises Rose Strictly win

Rose Ayling-Ellis's Strictly Come Dancing victory is changing attitudes towards deaf people, a charity has said.

Laura Thirwall from dDeaflinks Staffordshire said the success had taken people by surprise because of a lack of understanding about deafness.

Ms Ayling-Ellis was the first deaf contestant to win the TV competition.

The actor has been praised for championing the deaf community throughout the series.

The dDeaflinks charity was set up to support equal opportunities for deaf people and Ms Thirwall said: "As a society we've grown up not seeing the deaf community, so we don't fully understand it, we've not been educated and that's why we're surprised.

"They're not disabled. The environment they're living in is disabling them. It's the environment that isn't waking up and catching up."

Ms Ayling-Ellis and her dance partner Giovanni Pernice received a nearly perfect score for every dance, with the judges praising her for growth throughout the competition and also sharing her story.

Speaking after the final, Ms Thirwall said: "People are really paying attention a bit more I think.

"This thing with Rose on Strictly I think is absolutely amazing for raising that awareness and pointing it out to people that we need to do better."

At the start of one of the winning couple's performances, the dance partners had a discussion in British Sign Language (BSL).

And in the middle of another performance the music paused, with the couple continuing to dance in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.