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The actress triumphed in the BBC One show alongside partner Giovanni Pernice, defeating Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite and his partner Johannes Radebe, the first all-male pairing on the show.
Rose won over viewers in the final with an emotional contemporary routine featuring 10 seconds of silence in tribute to the deaf community.
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Undated BBC handout photo of winners Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice with the glitterball trophy during the final of Strictly Come Dancing 2021. Issue date: Saturday December 18, 2021.
Elizabeth Bojas is the director of Reflect BSL.
The centre is a deaf-run organisation based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, providing services throughout the region including the BSL courses.
Elizabeth has praised Rose’s victory and said it has made a huge difference to awareness of the deaf community.
Speaking to the YEP, Elizabeth said: “I’m certainly aware that we have been receiving queries about our courses much more regularly and constantly since Rose began appearing on Strictly.
Elizabeth Bojas
“We are used to people contacting us at the end of summer or September time as the new academic year begins, or in January with the New Year, but since Strictly started we have had at least two or three queries coming in every single week.
“I have come across lots of people who have told me they are interested to learn more about British Sign Language having seen Rose on TV.
“While they don’t yet know much about BSL itself, they have been made aware of the deaf community and our language thanks to Rose.”
Rose’s involvement in Strictly “definitely seems to have increased levels of awareness about deaf people”, Elizabeth told the YEP.
Andrew Shaw
“For example, when I’m out in public now and I sign ‘thank you’ to someone, you can see them light up as they recognise the sign from Strictly, and they sign ‘thank you’ back to me.
“Historically, the deaf community has been subject to really difficult circumstances and we still face many barriers in society.
“The deaf community has been effectively invisible to most people.
“Now that Rose is appearing on primetime T.V, she has brought our community into the limelight and sparked this enormous interest in who we are and what we face in our lives.
Reflect BSL
“Significantly, Rose has made people realise that deaf …….