It has been wonderful to receive recognition for my work in my field on a number of occasions. After starting my business, Support the Deaf People, back in 2011, it took 4 years to build up to the point that I had the honour of being nominated for a prize in one of the categories at the Deaf Business Academy awards. In 2016, I was incredibly surprised to receive the Runner-Up award for “Outstanding Contribution”. What made it even more wonderful was to realise that I had been competing against other businesses where mine was the only one run singlehandedly.

My interpreter at the time, Alison England, was quoted as commenting “It is a big achievement for Ruthy as a one-man band to have been recognised in these awards. A lot of people do not know how to help deaf people and Ruthy educates people on how to communicate with them, not just through sign language but in a lot of different ways.”

Two years later, in 2018, I was nominated for the same category once again, but this time I was privileged to be the winner of the “Outstanding Contribution” award, and as if that wasn’t enough, the same year I also secured the Runner-Up award for the “Outstanding Development” category. I was absolutely delighted and thrilled to have won them both, and taken completely unawares, not even having a speech prepared! At that point I felt incredibly grateful to all the hotels that had wanted to improve their knowledge and access for the deaf community.

One such hotel is the Hotel Brooklyn Manchester. I have had the chance to work very closely with this hotel since it first opened in February 2019 and add to their dedication to Accessibility by providing my training on deafness. It has been amazing to have had a small share in their success story which includes them winning “The Cateys Accessibility Award of the Year 2021”, along with several other awards.

It has been an honour to get to know and develop great working relationships with ones such as Robin Sheppard, the President and CEO of Bespoke Hotels, and Paul Bayliss (MBE), former General Manager of Hotel Brooklyn. Together we have accomplished magnificent work, and as always, I look forward to helping many other hotels improve their level of service to the deaf community.

More recently, Maybourne Hotel Group have welcomed me to work with them on raising staff awareness and improving the hotel experience for deaf guests. A message below from Claridge’s:

‘We were delighted to welcome Ruthy Fletcher to MHG recently to raise our team’s awareness with her fantastic Deaf Awareness & Basic Sign Language training.

At Claridge’s, we continually strive to offer our guests an unrivalled and personalised experience. With over 10 million people in the UK with hearing loss, we want to ensure that our teams are equipped with the tools and skills to fully accommodate our deaf and hard of hearing guests and team members.

We look forward to continuing this relationship with Ruthy and further building our teams awareness.’

Now, in early 2024, I am very proud to announce that I have finally achieved the goal of completing my 100^th training to hoteliers around the UK. This all started because of my passion to ultimately improve the hotel experience for deaf and hard of hearing guests - supporting and educating hoteliers to create an environment that is safe, aware, and inclusive. Throughout the training, I teach about the topic of Deaf Awareness, demonstrating equipment which removes barriers for deaf people and teach staff basic British Sign Language, mainly hotel-relevant signs which enable staff to communicate effectively and confidently with their deaf guests.

To all the hotels I have worked with over the years, I am so grateful that you wanted to improve your knowledge, support, access for the deaf community and above all, ensure the safety of deaf guests more independently. Thank you for allowing me to achieve this goal and long may my work continue!

I am delighted to announce Hotel Brooklyn Manchester won The Cateys "Accessibility of the Year 2021".

Hotel Brooklyn launched on February 14th, 2019, just before the pandemic hit, then closed given the national lockdown regulations.

The hotel is a new, purpose built property and is totally unique in the industry. It has 189 bedrooms and suites, a dedicated conference and events space on the 9th floor with a fantastic panoramic views across Manchester city.

It was challenging after just 4 weeks of trading when it had to close its doors, not knowing how long it would take to be allowed to reopen again.

However, on 17th May 2021, Hotel Brooklyn MCR successfully reopened again. Since then it has won numerous awards including "UK Staycation Hotel of the Year 2021" and 'Best of the Best', making it one of the worlds best hotels via TripAdvisor Award 2021. The General Manager also won "Businessperson of the Year" for Greater Manchester along with over 20 other awards including the prestigious Cateys "Accessibility Hotel of the Year Award for 2021". Recently, they won another award for "Conde Nast Travellers 2021."

Robin Sheppard, President of Bespoke Hotels, who suffers from the debilitating Guillian-Barré disease, clearly understands the many issues and needs guests with disabilities have and took the view that the industry needed accessibility design at the forefront of the property. The benefits for Hotel Booklyn MCR are obvious given the chronic need for this kind of accommodation within the hotel industry.

I met Robin a few years ago and had the chance to explain to him my passion for working with and supporting hoteliers on how best to communicate with deaf guests. I trained the team and advised on the right equipment to alert deaf guests in case of emergency.

I decided to teach Deaf Awareness training to hoteliers due to a poor experience in the past. I was staying in a hotel when unbeknownst to me the fire alarm went off. I was not alerted to the fire and was the only person left in the building and was unaware of what was happening and the dangers to myself.

After discussing this with deaf friends, I was shocked by how many had similar experiences. I have unfortunately experienced similar issues on 3 occasions in different hotels around the UK.

There are over 15 million people in the UK with a hearing loss, and very few hotels that successfully accommodate deaf and hard of hearing guests. I teach basic sign language designed to fit in with the hotel establishment. It allows staff to gain the confidence required to communicate effectively and confidently with deaf and hard of hearing guests.

In my experience health and safety aspects surrounding a person with hearing loss are rarely discussed, but with foresight, assistance, training, and support these can be resolved. I feel my training and support achieves this for the hoteliers.

When there is a lack of awareness, deaf guests contend with personal danger during an emergency situation. I therefore also demonstrate equipment that is available to assist in resolving these issues.

There are a range of methods people with normal hearing can use to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people. I explain the different types of deafness, along with the appropriate communication method for each type of hearing loss.

I have gained a number of awards in my work including Deaf Business Academy "Outstanding Contribution 2016 Runner-Up", "Development Contribution 2018 Runner-Up", and was the winner of the "Outstanding Contribution 2018".

As mentioned, I am delighted Hotel Brooklyn MCR received The Cateys "Accessible Award 2021" and I hope to help other hotel properties and companies in the future.

If you wish to book the Deaf Awareness and Basic Sign Language course, please contact Ruthy Fletcher:



ruthy@supportthedeafpeople.co.uk