Mum's success in making Devizes Makaton friendly

Hillworth Park Cafe, run by Devizes Town Council, is Makaton friendly

A town in Wiltshire has officially become Makaton friendly after a mum helped 30 businesses learn the sign language.

Lucy Heasman first approached Devizes Town Council after hearing Romsey was the first town to achieve the status.

She said: "It started off as something for my son to be able to communicate as he loves shops and shopping but it developed into a wider thing."

The council said being inclusive and welcoming was essential.

Makaton is a simpler form of sign language to help people who find it difficult to communicate.

'Huge difference'

Work began 18 months ago to get staff from 25 local businesses and organisations trained up to learn 30 signs and symbols.

Top-up sessions were then offered to learn vocabulary tailored to their service, such as a hairdressing salon or health food shop.

"It's made a huge difference, there was no-one else outside of our family using it who we knew who could use it, so it's made it more of a part of his [her son's] everyday life when he is outside of the house," Ms Heasman said.

She added her five-year-old son's confidence had grown as he can communicate independently without relying on her.

Town clerk Simon Fisher said: "We thought it was essential our staff are able to communicate with anybody who wants to talk to them.

"It's actually quite intuitive - it was great fun and everybody picked it up really quickly."

The Makaton charity said Devizes was the joint third town in the UK to become Makaton friendly.