First Deaf Host of Live Paralympics Show

A Speech and Language Therapist at Birmingham City University (BCU) is welcoming the news that the Channel 4 Paralympics coverage will include a deaf presenter.

Actress Rose Ayling-Ellis will become the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on TV when the Paralympics start later this month.

She will host a daily show, Afternoon Live, alongside Clare Balding from the Athletes’ Village, with live British Sign Language (BSL) signing.

Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) at BCU, Gillian Rudd, hopes the announcement and visibility of British Sign Language (BSL) will create better representation for the deaf community, allowing for BSL to become more mainstream.

“This is a positive and much-needed step towards inclusivity, while enabling better representation of and service for the 18 million deaf adults and 151,000 BSL users in the UK,” said Ms Rudd.

“Many deaf people have grown up without positive representations of their language and culture in the mainstream media and this needs to change.

“We hope that this promotion of BSL will motivate a wider range of people to find out more about it and further increase its use. This will greatly contribute to Deaf Equality and recognition of use of BSL as a human right.”

Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will begin with the Opening ceremony on August 28.

Photo Credit: PA