Picture by: David Hawgood (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Representatives for Wembley Stadium have announced that every live concert at the stadium will now offer sign language starting from June 2022. The London music and sports stadium announced yesterday (October 19) that it will become the UK’s biggest venue to offer British Sign Language (BSL) as a guaranteed service at every live concert.
This was a service that was previously only available on certain days or if pre-booked, the newly announced scheme will now guarantee the availability of BSL interpretation which will be provided by Performance Interpreting Ltd and is a significant enhancement in the provision for Deaf consumers. They even accompanied the news with a signed and subtitled video announcement which you can view below.
The service will officially begin in the aforementioned month when singer Ed Sheeran will bring his ‘+ – = ÷ x’ tour to London in June 2022, and continue thereafter for all following touring acts performing at the stadium.
On a statement on the official Wembley Stadium website Paul Smyth, head of event operations at Wembley Stadium, said. “We are delighted to be able to offer British Sign Language for our customers at every concert moving forward. We pride ourselves not only on being an inclusive stadium to be enjoyed by all but also for leading the way in terms of best practices within the industry”.
He then continued “I’d particularly like to thank our customer engagement manager and disability liaison officer Matt Owen and our partners at Performance Interpreting for working together to bring this ground-breaking service to our venue. We look forward to hosting our Deaf customers at future gigs and hope that they feel the benefit of this vital service at Wembley Stadium.”
Marie Pascall, the founder of Performance Interpreting Ltd, also added: “We are elated at Wembley Stadium’s decision to provide British Sign Language access for Deaf BSL customers for every show. This will enable thousands of Deaf customers to attend music events on any given date. Wembley continues to be a beacon of best practice and this is a huge step in the right direction. We hope other venues will value their Deaf customers and appreciate access in the same way.”
