Accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing across Australia and the UK

My research question is, “How is accessibility in Australia and the UK different from each other, and which country is better at accessibility?” I chose this question because I wanted to understand the differences in accessibility between two different countries. I was interested in whether Australia had more and better accessibility standards and rates, or if the United Kingdom did. I also chose to do this particular topic and question because I was going overseas for six weeks and thought, why not look at accessibility while I was over there?

The research that I did involved looking at what accessibility is, identifying what places have accessibility in the UK compared to Australia, and keeping a record of what vehicles, places, and travel options had accommodations for people with hearing disabilities. I looked into the different accessibility methods that Australia and the UK have. I did a deep search into landmarks and places across Australia and the UK to see what accessibility they offered. I then compared them to each other, looked at the different types of accessibility devices available, and investigated which country had more landmarks and places that provided them.

The products that I created were a website and a video. The website had all of the information about what accessibility is and which country has better accessibility. I also created a video using the images and photos that I captured throughout my trip in the UK to show and prove that the UK also has good accessibility, and maybe even better accessibility in some areas.

The thing that I learnt while I was overseas and researching accessibility is that not every place is going to have accessibility methods that suit your needs or meet your standards. I also learnt that there are many different kinds of accessibility that people can use, rather than there being just one method. Another thing I learnt was that not every country uses Auslan, ASL, BSL, or multiple sign languages in one place. Typically, the sign language used reflects the spoken language of that country.

The feedback that I received for this exhibition was to research more into the Deafness space and to look further into what accessibility really is.

If I were to complete this project again, I would spend more time researching the different types of accessibility and looking further into the experiences of Deaf and hard of hearing people in both countries. I would also collect more evidence while travelling, such as recording more examples of accessibility in different locations, so that I could make a stronger comparison between Australia and the UK. I think this would have helped me make my research more detailed and allowed me to better understand the differences between accessibility in the two countries.

The learning goals that this exhibition used were all of them. For Communication, I used the exhibition, website, video, and research to communicate my findings. For Social Reasoning, I looked into the background of accessibility and Deafness. For Empirical Reasoning, I was experimenting with new skills, such as creating a video and conducting research while travelling overseas. For Quantitative Reasoning, I looked into statistics relating to Deafness and accessibility.