Staff from Coyote Ugly, Plantasia and a clutch of Swansea city centre firms have learned to greet Deaf customers in their own language, and every business in the city centre can now send someone to do the same for free.
Swansea BID, the business improvement district, is opening bookings for its next 10-week British Sign Language course, starting on 12 October, after all seven students on the first one passed.
The BID pays for one place per city centre business. Firms that want more can get them by sponsoring Swansea Centre for Deaf People, which funds extra places on future courses.
The first cohort took in Matthew Thom of Coyote Ugly, Allyson Thomas of Plantasia Tropical Zoo, Keiran Telfer-Ivett and Hayley Telfer of SocialDice, Rebecca Thomas of Basekamp, Hannah Cox of reTHINK PR & Marketing and Jacob Perry of the BID itself.
All seven came away with an accredited introductory BSL qualification, taught by trainer Adam Guichard.
The BID says the aim is practical: staff who can communicate with Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers, colleagues and visitors, in a city centre that wants to be known as somewhere everyone can use.
Andrew Douglas, the BID’s manager, said: “It’s fantastic to see businesses from such a wide range of sectors embracing the opportunity to develop their BSL skills.”
“A 100% pass rate is a brilliant result, but the real success is seeing businesses taking practical steps to make their services and workplaces more welcoming and inclusive,” he said.
Hannah Cox said the course had been valuable “both personally and professionally”.
“It’s given me and other participants practical skills and greater confidence when communicating with Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, while also highlighting how small changes can make a real difference to someone’s experience of a business,” she said.
“It’s brilliant to see businesses from such a wide range of sectors getting involved, and I hope the success of this course encourages even more city-centre businesses to take up the next opportunity. Making Swansea a genuinely welcoming and inclusive place is something we can all contribute to.”
An estimated 87,000 people in the UK use BSL as their first language. Wales passed its own British Sign Language Act this spring, which requires Welsh ministers to publish a national strategy for promoting the language and public bodies to draw up plans of their own.
The BID says demand for the training is growing and it will keep funding a place for every business in the district on its beginner courses.
Bookings for the 12 October course are open on the BID’s website at swanseabid.co.uk.
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