In February, Strictly Come Dancing and Eastenders star Rose Ayling-Ellis and former MP Rosie Cooper brought a film crew to the Deaf centre for Rose’s BBC documentary Signs for Change.

The film crew at the BBC wanted extras in the background, but we offered to bring her in while the community were in so it would be more natural. We told nobody that she was coming, so it was a complete surprise as Deaf people arrived for their usual Wednesday social afternoon!

MSDP staff and our Deaf community members enjoyed meeting Rose, and she spent time speaking to people and having selfies taken. Rose and Rosie also stayed to play bingo in the community room.

Rosie is a CoDA (Child of a Deaf Adult) and a strong ally of the Deaf community. She was responsible for introducing the BSL Bill to parliament in 2021.

Rosie was a Trustee of MSDP from 1 February 1998 to the 21 April 2004, and although she hasn’t been actively involved in the charity since she stepped down as a Trustee, she has has asked to use our community room for filming of news and television pieces on two occasions during the progression of the BSL Bill to the BSL Act 2022.

MSDP are also staunch supporters of the BSL Act, and this year we were invited to become a founder member of the British Deaf Association’s BSL Alliance. The Alliance is a group of Deaf charities from across the country working together to amplify the voices of local Deaf people during the establishment of the BSL Act 2022.

MSDP’s Community Engagement Manager Janice Connolly is the charity’s representative at the British Deaf Association’s BSL Alliance, and her role is to feed in the views of Deaf people in our region.