Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing shone a spotlight on deafness and diversity
Richard Lee writes that inclusion is so important, especially for the young; David Nove salutes the diversity of the semi-finalists
‘A glimmer of light in a dark year’ … Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice in the final of Strictly Come Dancing. Photograph: Guy Levy/BBC/PA
‘A glimmer of light in a dark year’ … Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice in the final of Strictly Come Dancing. Photograph: Guy Levy/BBC/PA
Letters
Sun 19 Dec 2021 13.18 EST
Last modified on Sun 19 Dec 2021 13.32 EST
The universal delight that has greeted Rose Ayling-Ellis’s achievement on Strictly Come Dancing is one of the few glimmers of light in a dark year, as is the accompanying interest in signing for the 100,000 or so people that use it as their first language (‘Why can’t I give it a go?’: How Rose Ayling-Ellis’ Strictly success is inspiring deaf youngsters, 18 December). While we’re thinking about how important such inclusion is, especially for the young, it’s worth remembering the rest of the UK’s deaf, deafened and hard-of-hearing population is a hundred times bigger (about 11 million), doesn’t sign and relies heavily on [...]