Guide Dogs has partnered with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter to bring best in class accessibility to the world-leading attraction.
The year-long partnership has kicked off with three guide dogs in training named by the Studio Tour via Name a Puppy. Black Labrador Harry, yellow Labrador Ron and golden retriever Hermione reflect the trio of lead characters in the iconic book and film series.
The Studio Tour in Watford has welcomed guide and assistance dogs since the attraction opened in 2012, with existing policies and guides in place to support those with visual impairment, such as the availability of audio descriptive tours upon request. Through the partnership, further changes have been made to enhance the visitor experience.
Working closely with Guide Dogs, the Studio Tour has made improvements to its spending area for assistance dogs within the attraction grounds. Additionally, they are working towards introducing iPads which team members can offer to people with a visual impairment to hold over signs and descriptions in order to magnify them.
Guide Dogs will also provide the Studio Tour’s team members with online training resources to teach them best practices when helping visitors with who are blind or visually impaired, including safe guiding techniques and the importance of description and sensory experiences. The online training will be part of a wider programme rolling out which will include in-person training sessions for team members later in the year.
Geoff Spooner, SVP and General Manager at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London says, “We love welcoming everyone to the Studio Tour to step behind the scenes of their favourite Harry Potter moments and discover how they were brought to life through the magic of filmmaking. Our partnership with Guide Dogs marks our steadfast commitment to become a best practice example of accessibility for those with sight loss in UK attractions. We also hope to drive change throughout the industry that makes a real difference.”
Kerry Kernan, Head of Children, Young People and Families at Guide Dogs added, “We are delighted to be working with the Studio Tour team and hope our partnership will improve the experience and make a difference to visitors with visual impairment. Through our consultation, advice and training, we hope to encourage change across the UK attractions industry to become more accessible for people with sight loss, so blind and partially sighted visitors have more confidence to visit such attractions independently in the future.”
You can also find an audio-described version of this video via this link.
For more information on the partnership and helpful information, please visit www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/guide-dogs
