Juliet England: Were Deaf twins Natasha and Rhianna axed from that British Airways advert?

When profoundly deaf non-identical twins Natasha and Rhianna Cullen, both 12 and from Derby, were cast in a new 90-second advert marking 100 years of British Airways in the sky, the Deaf community cheered.

The sisters, who have attended the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby since they were little, joined a string of celebrities from Gary Oldman to Olivia Colman who were also featured in the advertisement, called Made by Britain.

Natasha and Rhianna, who both have Waardenburg syndrome, are shown signing the word ‘Trouble’, in a scene which they filmed in just 20 minutes.

The director was especially keen to hire them when he learned they could not only act but also used BSL as their first language – and was delighted with how the girls worked on the day.

First shown on ITV and Channel 4 in early February, and also thought to be being screened in cinemas, the girls’ participation was a cause for excitement and celebration all round.

However, this enthusiasm was dampened when later versions of the ad appeared without Rhianna and Natasha (who have two older sisters and a brother).

It caused some readers to write in to us, wondering why this had happened.

Alison Hollies wrote:

“I haven’t seen those girls in the advert for weeks now. BA could have chosen to shorten it without losing them. Don’t they understand how much this ad meant to deaf kids? How are parents supposed to explain this to their children? Let’s get some momentum behind this. I’m so angry and upset by it.”

Meanwhile a reader called James added:

“It seems BA has removed the girls. I appreciate that ads are often made shorter, but in this case it’s only the girls that have been removed from it. I find myself asking why? Perhaps you could approach BA for comment? Certainly other people could have been removed and have not been, so why focus on them?”

The girls are not the only ones from the original film who don’t appear in the shorter version. Another girl is in the longer but not the shorter edition, for example, while some of the shots of BA engineers have also been cut.

As is often the case, British Airways created two editions of their ad, filmed at Heathrow over a single day. One was shorter than the other, which follows standard industry practice of making different versions of the same advert.

That said, the Deaf community naturally feel disappointed that the girls aren’t appearing with the prominence they appeared to have at first.

The family’s agency, Zebedee Management, which specialises in signing up those with disabilities, insisted: “The girls have not been removed. There are two different versions, and the one that people have seen recently is a shorter version. The production can’t fit everyone in a shorter version, and the twins are not the only ones missing from this one.

“BA will have bought commercial time in 30, 60 or 90-second slots, and the girls will only feature when it’s 90 seconds. They may well have bought more 90-second slots in the future so you might see them again.

“They only feature in one of the three adverts made due to time allowed for each advert edit.”

Natasha and Rhianna’s mum, 52-year-old Rachael Cullen who  is deaf herself, says that she feels her daughters have not been the subject of any particular anti-deaf discrimination, and that she was grateful the twins had the opportunity to be a part of the project at all.

Cullen told Limping Chicken: “Of course you always want to see more deaf people featuring on TV and cinema screens. But I’m proud they included twins really, and it’s a start.”

The job was offered quickly after the family signed up with the agency, and followed months of effort on Cullen’s behalf to get the girls represented.

She added: “The twins have always enjoyed being the focus of attention and acting, and really loved the fun and excitement of being filmed and being stars for the day! We hope there will be other opportunities, and that they may be considered for future projects.”

Juliet England is a partially deaf freelance writer