6 inspirational celebs using their platform to raise awareness including Tasha Ghouri and Roman Kemp

Love Island star Tasha Ghouri broke down on camera after she was able to try glasses for deaf people that show subtitles. The new technology designed by British technology firm Xrai Glass called “smart spectacles” are designed for people who are hard of hearing, but they can help others too.

Tasha shared the incredible video to her 1.5 million followers on Instagram with the caption: “So this is an emotional one.. @xraiglass is amazing for me and for so many other people out there. Even with my cochlear implant, I struggle still in certain situations, for example at the cinema there’s no subtitles, in group conversations with noisy backgrounds, with TV that’s not subtitled, I now can use these glasses & not miss out.The fact that the text is in real-time as well Is just insane.”

She added: ‘As you can see I got emotional because wish I had XRAI Glass growing up, it would have helped me massively but I know this is going to change many many peoples lives that can’t even have access to a hearing aid or a cochlear implant - I’m truly proud to be a part of this amazing company #xraiglass #lifesubtitled.’

Tasha Ghouri first found fame through the ITV2 show Love Island and was the show’s first ever deaf contestant, she uses a cochlear implant and was proud to display it on the show calling her hearing loss her ‘superpower.’

The video received an emotional reaction from all who watched it with one user writing: “This gives me hope for my 6 month old daughter who is deaf. It made me so emotional thinking how this could potentially help her when she is older.”

Another user wrote: “Oh Tasha this is absolutely incredible and will change so many lives. I’m so proud of you for how you’re using your platform to support your community.”

Here’s a list of celebrities working hard to break the stigma on conditions that millions of people deal with everyday…

Rose Ayling-Ellis

Actress Rose Ayling-Ellis who was Strictly Come Dancing’s first ever deaf contestant has always strived to be a role model for the deaf community. During her time on the show, which she won, Google searches for learning sign language increased by an incredible 488 percent during her time in the competition.

In August of this year, the Eastenders star teamed up with Mattel to create a Barbie with behind the ears hearing aids. She featured in their Rose, Barbie & Friends campaign and was photographed alongside a number of other diverse dolls, including the Ken doll with vitiligo, one in a wheelchair and one with a prosthetic limb. “When I was little, I would draw hearing aids on to my Barbie dolls to make them look like me, so I am thrilled that Mattel is releasing more dolls that encourage kids to celebrate and embrace their differences,” she revealed.

Roman Kemp

Roman Kemp is another celebrity who has used his own experiences to try and help others. Roman has been open about his battles with depression. When his friend and colleague, producer Joe Lyons committed suicide, Roman was naturaly devastated and confronted his own feelings of depression when he filmed the BBC documentary Roman Kemp: Our Slient Emergency. In the documentary Roman visited organisations across the UK that are trying to help young men with their mental health. When he appeared on Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch, Roman explained: ‘I have had a trouble of my own. I’ve dealt with suicidal thoughts, I’ve been on anti-depressants for 15 years of my life.’

Aljaz Skorjanec

Strictly Come Dancing’s Aljaz Skorjanec is obviously best known for his talent as a dancer, but he has recently revealed that he has been dealing with the skin condition, psoriasis, which is an inflammatory skin condition. He moved to Australia at the time to pursue his career as a dancer and revealed that ‘I put my mind under stress moving into a different place and living on my own for the first time. It was a lot of hard work on my mind and body. And I feel that through my stress, my psoriasis started appearing. Last year, he revealed that “I just hope that just talking about it will help someone with psoriasis see themselves in a different way.”

Mollie King

The singer Mollie King, who is best known for being part of the band The Saturdays, is lesser known for being a long-time supporter for dyslexia and is an ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association. She was diagnosed with the condition when she was in primary school and has spoken about how she used to “not being able to sleep the nights before we had English class where we had to read, and asking to go to the toilet or pretend to need something out my bag to avoid this dreaded reading.”

On her Instagram @mollieking, she showed a picture of herself a few years ago when she spoke in Parliament. The singer said that she discussed her ‘experience of living with dyslexia and the changes that I feel need to happen in schools to support dyslexic pupils. This is something that I’m still really passionate about today.’

Amy Dowden

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden suffers from another condition, Crohn’s, which is a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system can become inflamed. She opened up about her condition in the BBC documentary, Crohn’s and Me, and made the programme to raise more awareness of the condition. ‘I was so scared and nervous for people to see me like that in hospital, with my lips really dry and often I was so poorly and vomiting into buckets and being thrown in an ambulance,’ she revealed. “But I think it was really important to highlight that for other sufferers and not to kind of skim over it and show it at its truest.” As well as drawing attention to Crohn’s through making the documentary, Amy is also a proud ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis UK.