Living Options Devon BSL tours referenced as good practice

British Sign Language (BSL) tours carried out by Heritage Ability, an award wining initiative of Living Options have been referenced as good practice in a national publication covering outdoor accessibility.

The publication; ‘Outdoor Accessibility Guidance: Supporting inclusive outdoor access in the UK’ was developed by the Outdoor Recreation Network and led by Paths for All and the Sensory Trust.

The highly regarded guide is designed to help make outdoor places, spaces, routes and facilities more accessible, and outdoor experiences more inclusive. This is the first major national update of guidance on outdoor accessibility in over a decade.

Heritage Ability was a Living Options initiative funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund. Heritage Ability helped over 20 South West heritage destinations between 2017 and 2020 to become more accessible. Various nature sites worked with Heritage Ability to film BSL tours. The tours were made available online and on a tablet for people to borrow when they visit.

The BSL tours continue to be widely used and it is a service that we continue to recommend and now offer as part of our current Living Options business services.

Neil Warren, part of the filming team for Living Options Devon, said: “It’s great to see our BSL tours being recognised and referenced as good practice in the Outdoor Accessibility Guide. It shows how a simple resource can play a big part in helping everyone enjoy the wonderful sites we have across the UK.”

Here is an example of our BSL tours – Seaton Wetlands.

Our Accessibility Matters website provides details of all our business services. We provide access consultancy, disability awareness and Deaf awareness training, access audits and many other accessibility services for businesses. If you are interested in offering BSL tours or would like more information on how you can make your business, organisations or open space more accessible please get in touch: info@livingoptions.org

The Outdoor Recreation Network has details of how you can receive a copy of the ‘Outdoor Accessibility Guidance: Supporting inclusive outdoor access in the UK.’