Really excited to be able to share a progress update on a project that has been my baby for the last year or so!
As many of you may know, the rail industry has (at long last!) been branching into the world of British Sign Language (BSL) now that the world of technology has made more possible - and many operators have introduced signs specifically showing BSL departures which was a huge leap forward.
I, however, wanted to go further than that. I set the ethos for LNER of “why should a D/deaf person have to go anywhere different than any other customer for their information?” - and that we could do better; and now, we are!
There is an exciting trial going on at Doncaster right now, with a hope to roll out to all LNER managed stations if all goes well, of integrated BSL on our existing customer information screens across the entire station - which is a UK first! This delivers a true parity of information for customers who rely on BSL.
Throughout this project we have worked with the Doncaster Deaf Trust and the D/deaf community of Doncaster as a location with a large footfall of D/deaf customers, and they’ve helped us understand what works and what doesn’t and have been integral to this project which has been amazing to make happen!
In comparison to other BSL solutions which just list a trains time and destination, we are able to list all the stops on a journey, delays, cancellations, fast train approaching and more - and particularly, on-platform platform change messages; something we know is a huge problem for travelling D/deaf customers.
It’s been a real privilege to work with some amazing colleagues to make this theory and wish a reality - and a great collaboration between my amazing accessibility team, the LNER innovation team and our CIS expert in the Service Delivery Team, as well as of course the Doncaster Deaf Trust. It has also been a pleasure working with Kadfire Ltd who have made this possible technologically and who have shown a real interest and passion for this project and made everything we asked for possible for which I am over the moon!
Look out for these as you pass through! And remember - just because there is already text does not mean you should not consider BSL - many people born Deaf learn BSL as a first language and English as a second, so having BSL on written screens that display important information is of huge importance!
Video footage of the screens: https://lnkd.in/eES-cKB4
Media coverage: https://lnkd.in/ekjqt6SR
Caroline Schofield Mark Haymer Clive Blane
#BSL #signlanguage #accessibility #innovation #equality #inclusivecustomerexperience
