Ruthy Fletcher: Promoting access for deaf people in hotels across the UK

My name is Ruthy Fletcher and I was born profoundly deaf. I am a Deaf Awareness Trainer/Coordinator and I have been teaching Deaf Awareness and delivering Basic Sign Language Training to hotel staff members for 12 years. The service I provide is for Hoteliers UK and Bespoke Hotels UK.

As I teach at various hotels all over the UK I have been fortunate to gain a number of awards for my work including Deaf Business Academy “Outstanding Contribution 2016 Runner-Up”, “Development Contribution 2018 Runner-Up” and I was the Winner of the “Outstanding Contribution 2018”.

I wanted to inform readers here about hotels across the UK which are welcoming towards and accessible for deaf guest(s). My passion for this work in hotels and promoting access for deaf people was inspired by a negative personal experience.

At the time I was staying in a hotel when unbeknown to me the fire alarm went off. I was not alerted to the fire alarm and I was the only person left in the building, unaware of what was happening. After discussing this with deaf friends, I was astounded as to how many of them had similar experiences. In total I have unfortunately experienced this three times in different hotels around the UK.

Over the years, I have worked as a Qualified Copy Typist, but after being made redundant with PBS (Peninsula Business Services) after 11 years, I decided to change my career and set up my own business called, “Support the Deaf People”.

For the past twelve years, I have taught Deaf Awareness and Basic Sign Language at various hotels educating all the staff on how to support and/or communicate with deaf guest(s) and also providing them with specialist equipment. This has turned out to be a massive success, thriving and expanding within the Hospitality Industry.

I provide UK Hotels with fire alarms that have strobe lighting, analogue alarm clocks with/without vibrating pads, portable door bells with a press button, as well as door signs which read, “Please be aware – this room is occupied by a deaf/hard of hearing person.”

I also modify PEEP forms (Personal Evacuation Emergency Plans) for hoteliers as deaf people may not understand what these are, so I modify any complex written English language, so these are easier to read and understand.

Hotels where I have provided my Deaf Awareness and Sign Language training now have specialist equipment in place and are deaf-friendly as staff can put into practice some basic sign language to support / communicate with deaf guest(s).

Over the years, I have taught at The Grand Brighton hotel twelve times, to teach Deaf Awareness and Basic Sign Language to newly recruited hotel staff. They have always welcomed me and I feel very at home with them. I also have a few other contracts with specific hoteliers to do refresher courses and teach their new hotel staff too.

Bespoke Hotels UK welcome deaf guests as well as disabled guests. They have also expanded their properties and modernised fantastic accessible rooms for both disabled and deaf people to accommodate their needs, which is extremely exciting news!

If any of you have any complaints about your personal hotel experiences, or if you have had to encounter tricky situations or had any problems regarding hotels, please do let me know as I will be able to investigate this and sort out the problems for you.

If you require any further information or support, please do not hesitate to contact me via email on  ruthy@supportthedeafpeople.co.uk  or via my website at www.supportthedeafpeople.co.uk

Ruthy Fletcher
Find me on social media at @fletcherruthy