A bid to make Carlisle United home games more accessible to deaf fans is being led by Cumbria Deaf Association.
The association is running an initiative in the Brunton Park Fan Zone to reach out to people who may find it difficult to fully participate in the whole match day experience.
The equality diversity and inclusiveness tent is staffed most home games, by Rebecca Kiggins, community co-ordinator for Cumbria Deaf Association, and Shelley Harrison, British Sign Language interpreter and support work team leader for the association.
Both ardent football fans, and its aim is to address issues affecting some Blues fans.
Rebecca said: “One in four people in the UK have hearing difficulty or are deaf. In a sporting arena, the main way of communicating is often over the loudspeakers, which isn’t much help if you are deaf.
“We’re trying to look at alternatives that make a deaf person safe, enjoy the game, and also feel part of the whole event.”
Shelley added that since they have been doing this they have been bowled over by the response from all fans home and away and they genuinely believe that it is doing lots of good for everyone, especially Carlisle’s deaf and hard of hearing fans.
She said: “Carlisle United are quite literally trailblazing in this respect and we’d like to thank them for opening their doors – and their minds, to this initiative.”
Cumbria Deaf Associations CEO Caroline Howsley said “This is an exciting excellent initiative and has been a real success. I’d like to see it replicated in other events right across the county, and when others see how well it works, right across the country.”
