Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is making one of its stores “deaf friendly” to encourage staff and customers to communicate with each other through sign language.
The branch in Bath will be renamed Signsbury’s from Thursday until Sunday and will be kitted out with visual guides and screens.
Employees have been taught words and phrases in British Sign Language, supported by colleague Sam Brook, who is deaf.
Children will be given a free fruit snack if they learn how to “sign” basic words.
Sainsbury’s said it hoped the initiative would help to encourage better communication with those who are hard of hearing by creating a supportive environment for staff and the local community.
Store manager Paul Robertson said: “We have many hard of hearing customers in Bath and always want to make their experience as brilliant as possible, and we hope Signsbury’s will help better their time in store even more.”
Rachel Shenton, ambassador of the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “It’s been brilliant to see the colleagues of Sainsbury’s be so engaged in the idea and it’s a great step towards inclusivity for the deaf community.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here