How attractions can make themselves more accessible for someone with sight loss

Author: Alex Pepper, Guide Dogs Head of Accessibility.

At Guide Dogs our aim is to help create a more inclusive society for people with sight loss and support them in every way we can so they have the confidence to live their lives to the full. By prioritizing accessibility, we can create environments that everyone can enjoy, with or without a disability, and fully engage in what these spaces have to offer.?

Our partnership with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which we launched earlier this year, is helping us to enable a more inclusive and supportive society by bringing best practice accessibility to the world-leading attraction for people who are blind or visually impaired. Accessible design isn't just about meeting regulations; it's about recognising the diverse needs of all individuals and ensuring that public and private spaces are welcoming and usable for everyone.?

By coming together, we hope to make a real difference in improving the experience to their visitors living with a vision impairment. Through implementing our advice and training, we also hope the partnership will encourage further change across the UK attractions industry to become more accessible for people with sight loss, so blind and partially sighted visitors have more confidence to visit such attractions independently in the future.

Why is inclusivity important at attractions?

There are currently two million people in the UK living with sight loss, and this figure is expected to double by 2050. People who are blind or partially sighted come from all walks of life. Anyone can have sight loss – from busy young parents to pensioners, bankers to gardeners, students to professors, grandparents to kids.

Being able to offer support for someone with sight loss, and ensuring your event or attraction is inclusive to everyone, can make a huge difference to someone’s experience. With support from Guide Dogs, we hope organisations can ensure their staff are informed and aware of sight loss, be more understanding, and ensure visitors with a vision impairment aren’t excluded from having the best experience possible.

What if an organisation fails to make their attraction accessible for someone with sight loss?

From our research we have heard people with sight loss say that since the pandemic they feel less confident in asking for help from strangers and more worried about what people think of them. People can often feel isolated and excluded. Anyone with a vision impairment should be able to live the life they want and feel confident, independent, and supported in the world, and it’s up to individual organisations to ensure they play their part.

Furthermore, if a visitor has a guide dog and are refused access into a shop, business or organisation, we know it can have a negative impact on their confidence and their lives. Too many guide dog owners continue to face discrimination and are turned away because they have their guide dog with them. Our research shows that 81% of guide dog owners have been refused access to a business or service at some point, and around half said they changed or restricted their plans because they were concerned they would be refused access because of their guide dog. We want to end this unacceptable discrimination.

How is Guide Dogs working with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London to lead the way for accessibility across UK visitor attractions?

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, the home of filmmaking magic, is committed to becoming more inclusive for people with vision impairments and ensure that everyone has the most enjoyable and magical experience possible – leading the way for UK attractions.

We will be providing ongoing advice and consultation on ways they can best enhance the accessibility and inclusivity for those with sight loss or vision impairment throughout the tour. Guide Dogs will also be providing vital accessibility awareness through our sighted guide training that will teach staff how they can guide someone with a vision impairment safely, with confidence, skill and empathy should they need it.

The Studio Tour has welcomed guide and assistance dogs since they opened in 2012, with existing policies and guides in place to support those with sight loss or visual impairment, such as the availability of audio descriptive tours upon request. Through the partnership, further changes have been made to enhance the visitor experience.

Working together, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London has already made improvements, including changes to its spending area - a designated toilet space for guide dogs to use outside - within the attraction grounds and have introduced signage iPads for visitors with a visual impairment to hold over signs and descriptions in order to magnify them.

They have also made a generous contribution through our Name a Puppy scheme, naming three guide dog puppies in training after the trio of leading characters in the iconic film series - Harry, Ron and Hermione. The Studio Tour's contribution will provide vital support for the three puppies as they embark on their remarkable journey to become life changers.

How can you make an attraction accessible for someone with sight loss?

The support an individual may want or need will be unique to them, however here are a few tips to help to make your attraction or event more accessible:

1.?? Educate staff – An assistance dog is a vital mobility aid to help someone with their independence. By law, disabled people accompanied by their working assistance dogs, including guide dogs, have the right to access taxis, shops, restaurants, and other places open to the public. Guide dog owners should be made to feel welcome with the same level of courtesy afforded to all customers.

2.?? Consider how information is displayed – Many attractions provide written signage to provide information throughout, but have you considered how someone who is blind or partially sighted would be able to read these? Many apps nowadays can recognise and read text aloud but where information is provided in a visual format, such as a map or information leaflet, ensuring digital, large print or braille options are available will help make sure these materials are available to everyone.

3.?? Use all the senses?- Just because someone can’t see the surroundings well, it doesn’t mean they can’t experience it through their other senses. They can still enjoy the smell of cooking, the sound of special effects, or tactile elements to touch.?Get creative and think about how you can help people experience your attraction using all their senses.?

We have a range of ways we can support and work with your organisation to help create a more inclusive society for people with a vision impairment. If you would like to find out more about how you can work with Guide Dogs to make your business more accessible for someone with sight loss, get in touch with the team at [email protected]

[Visual description of article cover image: Guide dog puppies Harry, Ron and Hermione running through the set of Diagon Alley on the set of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London- The Making of Harry Potter]