Emmerdale airs 'important' move to mark UK's annual deaf awareness week
Posted on 04/05/2026 11:50:00
News Date: 4 May 2026
News Source: Manchester Evening News
Emmerdale are marking the UK's annual Deaf Awareness Week with the help of co-stars Laura Norton and Mike Parr.
The week runs from May 4-10, and Emmerdale have released four informative videos featuring actor Laura Norton (Kerry Pollard) teaching her co-star Mike Parr (Ross Barton) British Sign Language (BSL).
Laura explains: "I was thrilled when the idea for these videos came up. Deaf Awareness Week is important to us, as both of our children have been diagnosed with hearing loss. And they both wear hearing aids.
"Every deaf person's experience is different, but one thing that we wanted to do as they got older was learn sign language and teach them to use it as well.
"It's a wonderful skill to have and it's a beautiful language and Deaf Awareness Week promotes awareness and inclusivity for the deaf community. I’m also hopeful these videos, although a bit of fun, might encourage people to think about learning to sign too."
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