It’s been 18 months since Jade Lovell first rocked up in Casualty as a surly student nurse – and she’s now so proficient at her job that it’s easy to forget that she has the added challenge of being hearing impaired.
In this week’s Inside Soap, we catch up with star Gabriella Leon – who plays Jade – about bringing her own experience of being hearing impaired to the screen.
“It is so lovely to play someone like me,” she tells us. “I’m able to add such depth and understanding to Jade, having experienced most of what she has experienced regarding her disability. I feel proud to be the first disabled regular in the show’s history. I also feel a duty to be authentic when representing what it is like to live as this endearing, yet clumsy, deaf nurse!”
“Jade isn’t defined by her deafness, and since her disability is invisible, Casualty is representing a much broader scope of who someone with a disability is.”
Jade’s sign language skills are set to be put to the test when a deaf patient is brought in – and she’s shocked to realise that it’s her ex-boyfriend, Malcolm!
“They haven’t seen each other since they were teenagers,” says Gabriella, “so it’s quite a big deal. Like Jade, Malc is deaf, and he taught Jade how to sign, and introduced her to deaf culture and community. Jade has never really felt as if she fitted in there, though, because she has perfect speech. She’ll always have a soft spot for him, and she definitely considers what it’d be like if they were together now – and maybe if he’s up for a smooch in the supply cupboard for old time’s sake…”
Gabriella shares more about Jude’s reunion with her old flame, and how he helps her make some important decisions about the search for her birth mum, in this week’s issue of Inside Soap – it’s on sale now!
- Many of the scenes between Jade and Malc take place in sign language, with subtitles for viewers who don’t sign. Gabriella, who can sign but isn’t fluent, tells us about how she’s brushed up on her skills in this week’s magazine…
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