LONDON, ENGLAND.- In a new survey of arts attractions around the UK, RNID – the UK’s leading charity representing the needs of 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people – found that few visitor attractions were fully prepared for deaf and hard of hearing customers, although there were some isolated beacons of excellence. The survey was conducted by profoundly deaf people on the eve of the rights of access under Disability Discrimination Act coming into full force (October 1st 2004). And showed that whilst selected centres welcomed deaf and hard of hearing visitors – in some cases producing Access Guides – most failed to be sufficiently accessible for this group of the population.

Mark Morris, Head of RNID’s Access to the Arts Campaign said, “There is still much ignorance among arts venues about how to include deaf and hard of hearing people. The modifications now required by law, under the DDA, are simple, affordable and achievable. And yet, many centres are failing to meet these obligations.

He continued “In some cases, where modifications, such as fitting a loop system have been made – centres are failing to educate their staff in deaf awareness, to provide training on the use of accessible equipment, or even to publicise their accessible services, thereby rendering them useless to deaf and hard of hearing visitors.”

RNID is calling for all three simple changes: All staff in Arts Venues around the UK, to receive deaf awareness training; All access equipment to be well-displayed and the staff trained to use it; All arts venues to compile an Access Guide giving details of the provisions for disabled people, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The survey conducted in 75 attractions in 9 cities across the UK found that staff in only 7 visitor attractions were deaf aware. Eighty per cent of venues visited didn’t have a textphone/minicom service to allow a deaf person to contact them for bookings, advance information. Fifty percent of attractions hadn’t fitted an induction loop, and many (39%) that had done so, failed to publicise it. Most centres (65%) lacked published information, to make clear how disabled, including deaf and hard of hearing people should access their centre.

Although there were some beacons of excellence - National Theatre, National Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery in London had staff who appeared to be deaf aware – the overwhelming picture is of a lack of knowledge of deaf awareness and training among staff about the use of accessible equipment. The Royal Exchange, Manchester had an infra-red induction loop system, but the staff were unaware of this facility, potentially turning away deaf customers. Likewise the King’s Theatre, Glasgow offers signed theatrical performances, but at the time of the survey, didn’t promote this. Again, The Globe and The Lowry Theatre had a textphone for booking, but had not published the number rendering the service invalid. Similarly St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Planetarium, the Dali Gallery and the Tower of London, all scored very poorly in terms of what was provided in order to ensure their venue was accessible to deaf people. There is an endless catalogue of patchy access.

“When you consider that one in seven people have some degree of hearing loss, it doesn’t make business-sense that arts venues are failing to capture the custom of deaf and hard of hearing people”, said Mark Morris from RNID. “Each attraction has different requirements – induction loops, visual fire-alarms, captioned performances, textphones or minicoms – so all attractions need to audit their access for deaf and hard of hearing and ensure that their staff are trained to be deaf aware so that appropriate interventions are put into place.”