John Lewis
Solihull's branch of John Lewis is hoping to make shopping an altogether more pleasant experience for deaf customers, thanks to training many of its partners in sign language.
Partners at the Solihull branch have recently signed off after completing the ten week course in British Sign Language. The course has been offered as part of the branch’s Learning Mosaic scheme, a joint initiative with Solihull College.
26 Partners, in total, have completed the course designed to teach students the basics of sign language. Each lesson focused on a different theme, from animals and the weather to talking about jobs.
Many of the Partners are already realising the benefits of being able to sign, Gladys Reeves, a student on the first course said:
“When a deaf customer comes on to the shop floor, Partners often shy away from helping them. But now I can make a decent attempt at offering good service to them, even if I have to spell out each word.”
The Electrical Department’s Angela Holmes is also keen to start using sign language to help deaf customers and has made a plan to ensure her skills stay up to scratch:
“I’ve been teaching my daughter what I’ve learned as we’ve gone along, so we can sign to each other now.”
The branch is hoping to offer a further course in September, which will qualify students in Level One of sign language.
To find out more about British Sign Language why not read the following case studies available on our website:
A profile of Sign Solutions - The UK's largest Language Service Provider for the field of deafness.
A day in the life of a qualified BSL interpreter (pdf 68KB)
A day in the life of a trainee BSL interpreter (pdf 66KB)
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