Accessibility

Many individuals with autism can find visiting new places a very difficult and scary experience. For many individuals a place like Titanic Belfast, with all its sights, sounds and people, can be difficult to understand and sometimes very frightening. Below are a number of simple strategies that can be employed to help the individual with ASD to enjoy their visit here, get the most out of the experience and feel comfortable about seeking help from our knowledgeable staff.

‘VIP’ Wristbands
We can provide a wristband for visitors to Titanic Belfast who live with ASD. It can be shown to any Titanic Belfast crew member (ticketing, café crew and security for example) if assistance is required particularly in areas where you may encounter increased sensory input, queues or crowds. If you or your family member would benefit from wearing a ‘VIP’ wristband please let our ticketing, visitor service or atrium crew know when you arrive.

Additional Aids
As well as our ‘VIP’ wristbands, our ticketing crew can also assist you with the loan of ear defenders and/or black out tents. These are available (with a refundable deposit) for the duration of your visit while you are in our main building, on a first come, first served basis. As numbers are limited we recommend that you bring your own ear defenders and sensory aids/fidget toys should you have them. 

Autism Sensory Guide
We have prepared a simple step-by-step visual guide explaining what you may see and do at Titanic Belfast in order to familiarise those with ASD ahead of their visit. This can be downloaded here.

JAM Card Friendly
Our staff are trained to recognise JAM Cards so please feel free to show these should you need a minute.

For further information guests visiting Titanic Belfast with children or individuals with ASD can contact us via our Welcome Team for advice about queuing and any other details required. Please call us on +44 (0)28 9076 6386.

Titanic Belfast operates a Free Carers Policy, whereby it offers a free carer ticket to any paying customer who requires essential assistance to visit our building. 

Tickets can be booked online here. Please bring proof of carer status with you as you may be asked for this on arrival.

The venue is situated within Belfast City Centre.

The venue is not situated on a road which has a steep gradient.

There is a bus stop within 150m (164yds) of the venue.

The nearest mainline train station is Titanic Quarter. See here for further transport details.

All circulation spaces and galleries at Titanic Belfast are fully accessible. There are some dimensional and weight restrictions on the Shipyard Ride which may mean that some wheelchairs, and all mobility scooters, will be unable to be accommodated within the accessible car, these restrictions are detailed within the Shipyard Ride section below.
 
Titanic Belfast is surrounded by a flagged Plaza which is fully accessible.
 
Titanic Belfast has four entrances, all have level access.
 
The main door is the South entrance and this is revolving, automatic and slow-moving. The 3 other entrances are automatic bi-parting.
 
The main access doors take you in to the Atrium which has a granite floored surface.
 
The ticket and visitor services desks are located within the Atrium with level access, bright lighting and all have lowered counters. All desks are fitted with a hearing loop and staff are trained to use system.
 
There are a variety of steps and escalators used throughout the building. The stairs are medium and clearly marked with handrails on both sides. There are landings on some of the staircases and the lighting levels at the stairs varies depending on the area of the building.
 
There are 2 scenic lifts within the Atrium which take visitors to all levels of the experience. There is not a mirror to aid reversing out of these lifts. There is one standard passenger lift that takes visitors to/from the car park levels -1 & -2 and atrium level 0. There is a mirror to aid reversing out of this lift. Lighting levels in all lifts is bright, while all have a visual floor indicator and an audible announcer. The controls for the lifts are within reach for a wheelchair user and do have tactile markings, however do not have Braille markings.

Parking is not free for visitors or Blue Badge holders, details on charges can be found here.

There are 2 levels of underground car park. Level -2 has 6 accessible spaces. Level -1 has 4 accessible spaces. 

The dimensions of the designated parking bay(s) are 380cm x 500cm (12ft 6in x 16ft 5in).

The car park surface is tarmac and the route from the car park to the entrance is accessible to a wheelchair user unaided.

Value Cabs, our taxi partner, have a number of accessible vehicles and can drop visitors off at the Taxi point on Level -1. Tel: +44 (0)28 9080 9080.

There are accessible toilets within this venue designated for public use. There is pictorial signage on or near the toilet door. These are unisex toilets. The door is light, opens outwards and is secured by a twist lock. There is lateral transfer space in all cubicles, with a dropdown rail available. Disposal facilities are not available in cubicles. Wall mounted rails are available, and the facilities also contain a shelf, mirror, sink, hand dryer and toilet roll holder. All accessible toilets have emergency alarms and communication points which go back to a 24hr manned security room.
 
There are accessible toilet facilities in the following areas:

• 1 Toilet - Entrance from car parking on level -1 *Includes baby change facilities
• 1 Toilet - Atrium level
• 2 Toilets - Level 1
• 1 Toilet - Gallery One - Boomtown Belfast
• 1 Toilet - The Andrews Gallery
• 2 Toilets - Level 2
• 1 Toilet - Gallery Six *Includes baby change facilities
• 1 Toilet - Gallery Seven
• 2 Toilets - Level 5 Banqueting Suites

Standard female and male toilets are located throughout the building, with level access. Some of the standard toilets have grab rails and lowered sinks.

There is a Changing Places facility on Level -1 at the entrance from the car park.

Changing Places are fully accessible toilets and changing rooms for individuals with additional needs, that provide sufficient space and equipment for people who are not able to use the facilities independently.

The facilities include a height adjustable changing bench, a ceiling hoist, a peninsular toilet, shower, adjustable basin and privacy screen.

Access is provided via a Radar key, if guests do not have a key but require use of the facilites, this can be requested at Visitor Services.

The circulation space within the building is fully accessible for wheelchairs. 

Titanic Belfast has a number of wheelchairs which can be reserved on request by contacting us in advance on +44 (0)28 9076 6386.

In conjunction with Shop Mobility, Titanic Belfast can arrange for mobility scooters to be available for the duration of your visit (subject to availability). 

Please Note! Shop Mobility will need to assess the person’s ability to control a scooter for health and safety and insurance purposes.

Titanic Belfast is designed to be a multi -sensory exhibition. The experience is self-guided, however multimedia guides are available, including state-of-the-art British Sign Language visuals.

Printed versions of our multimedia guide available on request. These will be sent out via email or by post.

There are three video presentations within Gallery Nine, transcripts of the audio of these videos are available on request.

Hearing Dogs are welcome.

An audio-described guide is provided free of charge to our visitors who are blind or partially sighted. These guides can be collected at Visitor Services.

Groups of 15+ people requiring an audio guide must call +44 (0)28 9076 6386 at least 2 weeks prior to their visit in order to reserve these.

Guide Dogs are welcome.

There is voice indication in all front-of-house lifts, hand rail extensions and contrasting floor textures.

Please note that the lighting levels within some of the galleries are low and in others which have windows can be extremely bright.

Documents can be requested in Braille or large print.

The Titanic Experience entrance is on Level One.
 
The venue and parts of the exhibition do play background music and sounds, while lighting levels are varied throughout. There is an easy ramp leading from the Boomtown Gallery to the Arrol Gantry Lift. 
 
All areas of the exhibition which have audio have integrated loop systems, visitors who wear hearing aids should switch them to the T setting.
 
There is seating for rest points in Galleries 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
 
There is a lift for public use at the Arrol Gantry, the end of the first floor exhibition. This lifts gives access to the next part of the exhibition on the fourth floor. An additional lift is available for public use from level 4 to 3 in the exhibition and in the Ship of Dreams which gives access down to the third, second and first floors.
 
The Ship of Dreams can be quite sensory with projections, lighting and sounds. 

Due to dimensional and weight restrictions on the Shipyard Ride, mobility scooters unfortunately cannot be accommodated. There is a wheelchair accessible car which can accommodate one standard wheelchair at a time, wheelchairs cannot be larger than 1m in length. 

The safety bar in each car must close to 320mm.

Please advise crew if you are pregnant.

Children under 7 years or 1.3m must be supervised. We recommend 1:2 ratio of Adults to Children.

As safety bars must close to 320mm, children cannot sit on parent's or guardian's knees and must be able to sit up un-aided.

Guide Dogs and Hearing Dogs are welcome on the Shipyard Ride but at the discretion of the owners.

Titanic Belfast has a number of wheelchairs which can be reserved on request by contacting us on +44 (0)28 9076 6386.

There is level access to the Titanic Store, The Galley Café, The Pantry and Hickson's Point.

No tables or chairs are permanently fixed and no chairs have armrests.

Menus are wall only and clearly written in contrasting colours.

SS Nomadic is situated a short distance from the main Titanic Belfast building.

Access is level, however guests must cross a road and a cobbled dockside (approx. 30-40m between tarmac and flat paving, then approx. 4m from flat paving to gangway) to gain entry.

A lift on board the ship provides access to all areas, bar the Crew Space which is accessible via approx. 7-8 steps and the Flying Bridge Deck (very top deck) which has approx. 15 steps.

Standards Compliance

1. The majority of the pages on this site are WCAG AA approved, complying with all priority 2 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. (http://www.w3.org/WAI/).
2. All pages on this site comply with the Irish National Disability Authority IT Accessibility Guidelines. (http://accessit.nda.ie/)
3. All pages on this site are Section 508 approved, complying with all of the U.S. Federal Government Section 508 Guidelines. (http://www.section508.gov/)
4. The majority of pages on this site validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
5. All pages on this site use structured semantic markup. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles.

Images

1. All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT tag. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.

Visual Design

1. This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
2. This site uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified "text size" option in visual browsers

Accessibility References

1. W3 accessibility guidelines, which explains the reasons behind each guideline.
2. W3 accessibility techniques, which explains how to implement each guideline.
3. W3 accessibility checklist, a busy developer's guide to accessibility.
4. Irish National Disability Authority IT accessibility guidelines.
5. U.S. Federal Government Section 508 accessibility guidelines.

Accessibility Software

1. JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
2. Home Page Reader, a screen reader for Windows. A downloadable demo is available.
3. Lynx, a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
4. Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth requirements