Welcome to the world’s first Symbol-Friendly museum

For the NPHT, celebrating the achievements of individuals of all abilities and backgrounds – and bringing those stories to life – have been paramount to their vision from the starting line. Established in 2015 with a mission to protect and share British Paralympic heritage, their role as caretakers of the ‘the Paralympic Movement’ historical collection supports their wider aim of broadening visitors’ understanding of disabilities.

Working to ensure paralympic history remains accessible for all individuals, the implementation of symbolised communication has resulted in a number of specially designed resources from Widgit to engage visitors both online and in person – with symbolised guides spanning subjects from paralympic rowing to scavenger trails in their heritage centre.

"We want all our visitors to feel confident and empowered and we understand that it can be daunting to visit unfamiliar places and learn new things. With this in mind and knowing that many schools use this fun and visual communication aid, we introduced Widgit into our learning offer so that visitors would recognise it and feel welcome. We now use it in all our project work in schools to help everyone engage and communicate with us."

- Fiona Darling-Glinski, NPHT Learning Manager

With symbolised resources and Key Stage 1-3 activity packs available to view and download from their Global Virtual Museum, as well as within their Stoke Mandeville Heritage Centre, project partnerships with schools and museums in Buckinghamshire and Hampshire have also resulted in best practice knowledge sharing when it comes to providing symbolised learning experiences.

Having experienced the resources firsthand, a teacher of SEN pupils commented:

"Widgit has helped the children become more involved and gave them a more concrete understanding of what was being said, since there are some children who do struggle with receptive language skills. The children all participated [in the story telling] and... those non-verbal children in the class really benefitted."

Finally, Widgit has also worked with the NPHT team to create interview guidance for oral historians. Introduced by museum trainee Adam below, the ‘Don’t Dis My Disability’ pilot hopes to support individuals who may benefit from visual instructions, paving the way for more inclusive interview processes across all settings in future.""

"We are so excited to partner with NPHT to become the first Symbol-Friendly museum in the world! The resources, which have been so carefully tailored by Fiona, will make the museum easily accessible for visitors of all ages with a communication difficulty. We hope that many other museums will follow in NPHT’s footsteps and help people to access the world outside of school and home much more easily."

- Rebecca Lynch, Widgit Education Specialist