Today, Virgin Atlantic has teamed up with deaf Gladiators star, Jodie Ounsley, and deaf twin content creators, Hermon and Heroda Berhane, to help better understand the needs of its deaf customers and customers with hearing loss, as part of the airline’s commitment to ensuring every customer has a positive and inclusive travel experience.
The experience was captured in a film released to mark International Week of Deaf People, which sees Virgin Atlantic BSL trained crew providing the airline’s signature warm welcome in BSL, assisting with onboard navigation, alerting passengers to onboard announcements and offering assistance with accessible in-flight entertainment.
The research
RNID have been working with Virgin Atlantic to uncover new research around travelling for the community.
The insights reveal that while 82% of the people surveyed by the charity who are deaf or have hearing loss say they’re planning at least one trip abroad in the next 12 months, more than half (58%) worry about communicating with cabin crew when they fly, and 9 in 10 feel concerned about missing announcements and key information.
81% would welcome deaf awareness training as standard across the aviation industry, while BSL training (21%), consultation from those with hearing loss to improve policies (79%), and the introduction of technological support for deaf people and people with hearing loss (83%) were also measures that people who are deaf or have hearing loss would like to see introduced.
It also revealed that the introduction of deaf awareness training for airlines would make people who are deaf or have hearing loss feel more confident when travelling (80%), supported when travelling (61%) and even more inclined to fly (17%).
Teri Devine, Associate Director of Inclusion at RNID, said:
1 in 3 adults in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss, yet our research shows that every day people face negative attitudes and behaviours at work, when they’re out shopping, and even from their families. The impact of this can be huge: making people feel excluded, lonely, and disrespected, and destroying their confidence.
“We really welcome Virgin Atlantic commitment to making travel inclusive for everyone and getting people to ‘see the world differently’ by putting in place inclusivity measures to ensure every part of the flying experience is accessible to deaf people and people with hearing loss.
“We want people across the UK to stand with us and say that the way deaf people and people with hearing loss are treated really does matter, which is why we created free BSL phrases and communications tips so everyone can make those small changes to show ‘it does matter’ at home, at work and whilst flying off on holiday.”
‘It does matter’
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