St Stephen’s shopping centre has become the first shopping centre in the region to train its customer service and security teams to assist blind or partially sighted shoppers.

My Guide Open for Business is working with Hull’s flagship shopping centre, St Stephen’s, to deliver specialist training to their staff. This means the in-centre team at St Stephen’s can guide customers who are blind or partially sighted to and from the store or restaurant of their choice and meet their needs more efficiently.

It means that blind or partially-sighted shoppers can experience the same freedom of movement around the centre as sighted people, whilst in the care of an individual guide.

Jim Harris, Centre Manager at St Stephen’s says: “We want to make the centre accessible to everybody and give all our shoppers the best possible experience. By training our teams as Sighted Guides, we can make sure that blind and partially sighted people can enjoy all what St Stephen’s has to offer.”

Despite popular belief, only about two and a half percent of blind and partially sighted people have a partnership with a guide dog. In the UK, that’s about 5,000 people. Some people with sight loss don’t like dogs, or dogs may simply not suit their lifestyle. This means that the prospect of visiting a busy shopping centre may be too daunting.

Simon Goodwin, My Guide Ambassador for the Hull Guide Dogs Mobility Team says: “We are really excited to be working with St Stephens to make the shopping centre accessible for people living with a visual impairment. My Guide not only empowers blind and partially sighted people but also their local community to address mobility, inclusion and access issues.”

“Over 70% of blind and partially sighted people lack confidence to join in everyday activities so work such as this is vital to ensure that people who are blind or partially sighted have the same freedom of movement as everybody else.”

“It’s fantastic that St Stephen’s has agreed to carry out some fund-raising for us. Guide Dogs receive no government funding, so we are reliant on people giving their time to raise the money needed to provide our life changing services.”

The ‘My Guide Open for Business’ training has already improved customer service in a range of organisations such as hospitals, transport companies and local authorities.

The Sighted Guide training at St Stephen’s is part of the shopping centre’s drive to be one of the most customer-friendly and accessible centres in the region. More than 10.5 million people a year visit ST Stephen’s and the centre makes great efforts to ensure that its facilities are accessible to people with impairments and other physical and sensory access needs as well as appealing to the old and young.

St Stephen’s is the only centre in the city with ‘'Changing Places' toilets - specialist facilities for severely disabled people and extra room for up to two carers. The centre also has incorporated wheelchair friendly ramps, lifts and automatic door openings as well as braille readers and large print guides.

Website: www.ststephens-hull.com

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