Rose Ayling-Ellis calls for emergency workers to be 'given the right tools/support' to communicate with deaf people

Virgin Radio

6 Apr 2023, 07:38

Rose Ayling-Ellis has taken to Twitter to respond to “quite upsetting" comments, following reports that ambulance staff were unable to inform a deaf woman that her husband had died.

Elizabeth Corbett was contacted at work by her children to say that her husband, David, had fallen ill. However, when she got home, paramedics could not explain to her what had happened. She told BBC: "Not one of them could communicate with me and I couldn't explain who I was. I wanted to know what was happening and the police were asking me questions, but they were all wearing facemasks so I couldn't tell what they were saying."

Mrs Corbett continued: "Eventually I contacted work and the receptionist spoke to the paramedics who told her that David had died. So I found out over FaceTime that he had gone."

As reported by BBC, the teaching assistant at Royal School for the Deaf Derby is calling for emergency workers to have British Sign Language (BSL) skills, as well as the ability to instantly contact a qualified interpreter. 

Former EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis has spoken out in a Twitter thread. Saying that some of the comments in response to the BBC news report were “quite upsetting”, she explained that she wanted “to break it down as simple as possible”. 

The actor, who was the first deaf competitor on Strictly Come Dancing, dealt with questions in a Twitter thread: “'Why can't the children tell the mother?' No child should ever do this,” she said.

“‘Why can they just write it down?’ Imagine going through the most traumatic time of your life, you need someone there you can access to in the full language. Not writing backwards and forward.”

Rose went on to say that paramedics are “already so overwhelmed with the amazing work they do. They should have been given the right tools/support to be able to communicate with this lady.”

She added: “For example, Paramedics having emergency interpreter on iPad ready on call for this situation. And, basic BSL to be able to pick up quickly that this lady was trying to communicate with them.

“We pay our taxes too; we have every right to receive the same care.”

Commenters were quick to agree with the actor. One person wrote: “By now BSL should be taught in schools to everyone and this should have been done years ago.”

Another added: “Yes  Rose. You're absolutely 💯 right. We will all encounter deaf people at some point, so it would be helpful if we all had basic knowledge of BSL as a matter of respect. I am currently signed up for Level 1 and 2.”