Bantock House and Park

1
Bantock House and Park

• Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service
• Wolverhampton City Council

2
British Sign Language Video Guides

• Improving Access for Deaf Visitors

3
Overview

• Aimed solely at Deaf visitors who use sign
  language
• Developed a BSL signed video guide that Deaf
  visitors can watch on a hand held player
• Used off the shelf technology
• Holistic guide was part of a bigger project
  events, Deaf history exhibition, reminiscence
  DVD, Deaf awareness training

4
Bantock House Museum

• Historic house and social history museum
• Displays designed to cater for all ages
• Fully accessible for disabled visitors
• Written guides available in a number of languages
• Audio guides available
• Guided tours provided

5
But what about our Deaf visitors?
6
Deaf Visitors

• By Deaf we mean people that use BSL sign language
  as their first language
• Deaf people who use BSL tend to have lower
  reading skills than hearing people
• Deaf people are one of the most excluded groups
  in our society

7
What do our Deaf visitors want?

• They told us that they wanted
• Information in sign language (BSL)
• Any written information to be as short and as
  simple as possible
• To be able to explore the house independently
• To hear stories about the house and local people

8
Looking for a Solution

• Tailored to our Deaf visitors
• BSL signed information
• Available in each room
• Easy to use
• Tailored to our museum
• Unobtrusive fits in with the period settings
  within the house
• Relatively inexpensive (total budget 3,500)
• Flexible, easily changed when museum displays
  change

9
Our Solution
Signed videos that Deaf visitors watch on a hand
held MP3 player
10
Our Solution

• Wrote information specifically aimed at Deaf
  visitors which was then translated into BSL
• Filmed videos of the signed interpretation
• Videos filmed on site
• Guide made up of a number of short videos
• Videos loaded onto an MP3 player
• Supported by signed videos on our website
• Worked in partnership with a local company run by
  Deaf people to ensure quality of signing

11
In Practice

• Easy for visitors to use
• Visitor can choose which videos they want to
  watch
• Visitors can go at their own pace
• Available at any time
• Easy for staff to add or delete videos
• Unobtrusive

12
Evaluation

• Younger Deaf people like the guides and are
  comfortable with the technology
• Some older Deaf people find the signing too fast
  and find the technology difficult
• Some Deaf people felt that it would be better to
  use a computer rather than hand held devices as
  the screen would be larger and would allow for
  subtitles to be added

13
Benefits

• Opens up our museum to Deaf visitors
• Increased visitor figures
• Increased visitor satisfaction
• Increased online visitors
• Increased knowledge of Deaf accessibility issues
  to share within our sector
• Recognition within our sector Jodie award for
  Excellence in Accessible Technology and History
  Today magazine Local History award

14
Other aspects of this project

• BSL signed events
• Unheard Stories filming Deaf people signing
  their memories of the 1940s
• Unheard Stories filming Deaf children
  interviewing Deaf adults to explore how the use
  of BSL in schools has changed
• Deaf History Exhibition being developed for May
  June 2008
• Deaf awareness training
• BSL training DVD for museum and gallery front of
  house staff

15
Recommendations

• Think seriously about what you provide d/Deaf
  visitors to your museum
• Think holistically not just about signed guides
  but also events, written material, where to
  publicise, etc
• Tailor the solution to your museum hand held
  guides may not be the best solution for your
  museum

16
With thanks to Nikki Stratton, Marilyn Beuno Di
Carpio, Gordon Hay, Lisa Bowen, Marcella Stratton
and other members of our local Deaf community
for their help with this project
17
Funded By