Guide Dogs Part of the Magic of a Harry Potter Studio Tour

Guide Dogs has partnered with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter to put the spotlight on accessibility at the world leading attraction.

The year long partnership has kicked off with three guide dogs undergoing training being named after the lead characters from the iconic films – black labrador Harry, yellow labrador Ron and golden retriever Hermione.

Working closely with Guide Dogs, the Studio Tour is improving on its existing policies and guides that have been in place to support those with visual impairment since the attraction opened in 2012, such as the availability of audio descriptive tours.

They are currently 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 be providing the Studio Tour’s team members with online training resources to teach team best practices when helping visitors who are blind or visually impaired, including safe guiding techniques and the importance of description and sensory experiences.

“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,” said Kerry Kernan, Head of Children, Young People and Families at Guide Dogs.

“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.”

To find out more visit www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/guide-dogs