Camelon sensory centre delivers special training for staff at top hotel

The Camelon based centre recently delivered the training at the DoubleTree Dunblane Hydro hotel near Stirling through a one-day course which outlined how deafness

impacts on people’s daily lives, and what adjustments can be made to meet their needs and make them feel more comfortable during their stay.

Staff were given deaf awareness training and a British Sign Language workshop which helped them understand what it is like to be deaf, the differences between BSL

and English, the barriers people face and what different words and terminologies mean.

Workers then had a chance to learn some basic BSL including finger spelling, the alphabet, and how to say their name.FVSC supports thousands of people across Forth Valley in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire, offering a range of services to those who are blind, partially sighted, deaf and hard of hearing.

The training sessions are just one of the ways FVSC works to improve the lives and experiences of people with sight and hearing loss in the area.

Hannah Wilson, FVSC volunteer coordinator, said: “One of the biggest barriers to accessibility is people’s attitudes. Training like this makes a huge difference to people

with sensory loss. When staff are more aware, they can make things a bit easier for those with sight or hearing loss.

“Often it is small tweaks that make the biggest difference – being able to make people with sensory loss feel valued and welcome, knowing how to book an interpreter, writing things down and using plain English all make a real difference.“There are still a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about what deaf and blind people can and can’t do. This training goes a long way to tackling that and making life easier for people with sensory loss.“This all makes things as inclusive and accessible as possible by helping people be more aware and understand how they can get around some of the barriers blind and deaf people face”.Jade Hall, HR manager at the Dunblane Hydro, added: “Learning basic sign language empowers our team to create a more inclusive environment for those with sight or hearing loss upon arrival.”