Q&A: Rose Ayling-Ellis, actor, 30

Code of Silence is about a deaf catering worker in a police canteen who gets called in as an emergency lipreader on a criminal investigation. What drew you to the part?It struck a chord because there are so many myths around deafness. People think you can look out of the window, see a conversation in the distance and lipread the whole thing. It’s not like that. You don’t get all the information from lips. You pick up extra cues from the eyes, facial expression and body language. When I’m lip reading, I tend to look people in the eyes, not their mouth.

How much like your character Alison are you?Alison doesn’t let things go. I relate to that. When you’re deaf, society tends to focus on what you can’t do, rather than what you can. Those frustrations lie at the heart of how Alison behaves. She goes too far and puts herself in danger but it’s because she’s pushing against the limits people have put on her. I also love how nosy she is.

Are you nosy?No, but I’m more aware of my environment than people think. If I’m on a film set and people are behaving badly, they think I can’t hear them. Actually, I’m very aware of what’s going on. That’s a secret power of being deaf. You know far more than people assume.

Alison gets fired from a bar job for getting orders wrong. Is that something you could relate to? Before acting, I worked from age 13. There’s all sorts of subtle discrimination. In a supermarket, the management trained everyone on the tills except me. They made that choice without even talking to me about it. I had customers yelling at me. I applied for a job on the shop floor of a clothes shop but they put me on packing duty in the basement. I ended up quitting that job when they wouldn’t give me time off to film Casualty, my first TV job.

Would you like to play non-deaf roles?That’s a hard one. You can’t pretend I’m not deaf. It’s in me – the way I talk, the way I behave. I can’t hide it. That’s not a source of frustration because it’s great to showcase different characters who just happen to be deaf.

What about non-deaf people playing deaf roles? It’s never OK. I would never get to play a hearer, so why do they get to play my role? It’s annoying when people say: “Well, that’s the whole point of acting.” Being deaf isn’t a job. It isn’t a costume. It’s part of your identity. Only three disabled actors have won an Oscar in its 96-year history, whereas 27 non-disabled actors have won for playing disabled characters. It’s outrageous.

You just published your fifth children’s book. What do you hope to achieve with them? I never had any information about deaf history, deaf culture or deaf people while I was growing up. Eventually, I had to find it all out myself online. That’s why I’d always wanted to write children’s books. I’ve had messages from schools with deaf units saying how pleased they are there’s finally something in the mainstream. If it makes a difference to one child’s life, I’m happy.

Which author made the biggest impact on you in childhood? Jacqueline Wilson. I read all her books but vividly remember Sleepovers because it had a sister with special needs in it. It was the first time I’d read something where a character had a disability. She wrote impactfully about subjects nobody else covered. At the Olivier awards, she came up and said, “Hello, Rose!” And I said, “Oh my God, you know my name!” I got a bit starstruck. She’s a legend.

Was it surreal getting to create your own Barbie doll – the first ever with hearing aids? It was mad but cool. Little deaf girls come up to me with the doll. A few times, I’ve asked, “What’s your Barbie’s name?” and they’ve replied, “Her name is Rose.” It’s so sweet. Mattel gave me a boxful but I keep giving them to children, so I’ve only got a couple left.

You’ve said that you want to avoid “inspiration porn”. Can you explain?There’s a funny Ted talk on society’s habit of objectifying disabled people and turning them into inspirational porn. Sometimes I’ll do something really basic, like drive a car, and everyone’s like, “Wow, it’s amazing that you can drive and can’t hear!” I’m like, “Yeah, but I can see.”

I’ve got to ask. Why did you dress as a bag of crisps for your recent 30th birthday party?[Laughs] Crisps are my favourite food. My last meal on death row would be Walkers cheese and onion. Whenever I have guests over, I buy two sharing bags but hide one in the cupboard and don’t share. When they go home, I have a whole packet to myself. It just made sense to have crisps as the dress code for my 30th. My friends got creative and turned up dressed as Wotsits, Skips, Pom-Bears, all sorts.

How do you relax when you’re not working?I recently got into padel and am a bit addicted. There’s a big deaf community who play and it’s great fun. I’m going to play after this interview, actually. I won yesterday, so wish me luck.

Code of Silence starts at 9pm on Sunday 18 May on ITV1 and ITVX. Marvellous Messages by Rose Ayling-Ellis is out now (DK Children, £16.99)

Photograph by Billie Scheepers @ THE VISIONARIES