Royal Armouries Museum and Guide Dogs team up to provide accessible visits for people with sight loss

The Royal Armouries is working with Guide Dogs under a new scheme, which aims to improve inclusivity, accessibility and provide a safe environment for people with vision impairments. The Leeds Dock museum is the first in the region to receive expert training from Guide Dogs’ My Sighted Guide service.

Training involves teaching people how to properly and safely guide someone with a visual impairment, explaining how to describe the environment and help someone navigate around.

Duty manager at Royal Armouries, Robert Childs, also participated in the training. He said: “With front of house and museum assistant staff learning how to guide blind and partially sighted customers, it will make visits much more accessible in future.”

Kelle Myers, My Sighted Guide community development officer at Guide Dogs, delivered the training and said: “We are proud to partner with the Royal Armouries to provide training for their staff on sight loss awareness and sighted guiding. It’s been brilliant working with visitor-facing staff who are all very devoted to making the museum more inclusive to visitors with sight loss. We hope it encourages similar organisations to consider their accessibility for people with a vision impairment.”

Organisations and venues looking to make their facilities more inclusive are encouraged to get in touch with Guide Dogs by contacting My Sighted Guide development specialist Lorraine Brinnen at [email protected]. Guide Dogs is in need of volunteers to run the pilot. Find out more information on the website.