Nottingham Castle to liaise with local Deaf group after listing Makaton as an access provision for Deaf visitors

Nottingham Castle have confirmed they have reached out to the local Deaf society after it was revealed that their website lists “Makaton trained” staff under their access provision for Deaf visitors.

On their page about accessibility, the attraction writes under a section titled “access for D/deaf and hard of hearing” that “certain members of our friendly team are Makaton trained”.

While British Sign Language (BSL) is the language of the UK Deaf community, Makaton is a language tool and is not a form of sign language.

Speaking to The Limping Chicken on the condition that they remain anonymous, the individual who first flagged the issue said: “The castle has just had a refurbishment that cost them millions of pounds, so it’s naturally really disappointing that they didn’t do any outreach to the local deaf community to figure out what they needed.

“If they had, they wouldn’t have wasted their money on a Makaton package.”

Responding to the issue, Nottingham Castle said that they opted for Makaton because “it combines multiple methods of communication, symbols, expressions and signs, making it more widely accessible”.

“Staff will be able to fingerspell and use basic signs to communicate with visitors who use BSL,” they added.

One Deaf user responded to Nottingham Castle’s comment and said “this, by the way, is why my work is necessary”.

“Cultural heritage organizations frequently fail to listen to what Deaf visitors want, and come up with their own accommodations/adjustments. This is what my PhD is about,” she said.

“Makaton and BSL are two very different things. For a start, my wife and I do not have a learning disability and you have just insulted the deaf community by insisting on Makaton. Makaton is a communication aid for [people with a] learning disability. Regrettably, you have got this wrong,” wrote a second.

Nottingham Castle has since confirmed they had contacted Nottinghamshire Deaf Society for further support.

In a statement to The Limping Chicken on Friday, a spokesperson said that the “existing error” has since been removed from the Nottingham Castle website.

“We are currently in the process of assessing the website and are aware that changes need to be made. We have taken the feedback on board and understand that at present, it isn’t made clear that Makaton and BSL are separate methods of communication for different accessibility requirements.

“We are in the process of reviewing our accessibility strategy and provisions for Deaf BSL users will be a key consideration. We understand there are changes that need to be made and will be consulting Deaf BSL users and Nottinghamshire Deaf Society on how we can improve moving forward,” they said.

When asked who advised the attraction that Makaton could be used to communicate with BSL users, the Nottingham Castle spokesperson declined to mention an individual or organisation, instead saying that they are “constantly assessing and reassessing current policies”.

“We are aware that there are changes that need to happen to better support our deaf visitors,” they added.

Nottingham Castle also sent an email to Nottinghamshire Deaf Society on Friday morning and said that they “hope to begin a dialogue with them soon”.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.