My partner, Tatiana, and I visited Canterbury Cathedral, the head of the Anglican church in England. It is an important, historical, religious monument and building of significance. I’m not religious, but love visiting historical churches and cathedrals, because they are a part of British history, which I find fascinating. Our history tells us where we came from and what we have become and, can often, give an indication of where we might be going in the future. Anyway, my real point is, that Canterbury Cathedral is not only fascinating, for its scale and architecture and sculpture and stained glass windows but, more importantly to my girlfriend and I, for having such a magnificent audio guide with tremendous descriptive commentary, full of intriguing information. Notwithstanding this, there is also a detailed 3-D model of the cathedral along side a tactile floor plan. Accompanying the model is an audio description on a Daisy Book machine, available for all blind/visually impaired visitors. It is only available in English, but it gives the blind/visually impaired person a detailed description of the cathedral, allowing an individual to follow the directions along the cathedral by running their hands over the model whilst listening to the description. After feeling the model and floor plan of the cathedral whilst listening to the commentary, I was able to form an impression of the inner layout of the building in my mind’s eye. It was most constructive and will allow me and other blind/visually impaired people to better understand the cathedral’s size, scale and layout, and make navigating the huge monument much easier and more enjoyable. Thank you Canterbury Cathedral for providing the helpful and useful model and audio description. Maybe other significant buildings and monuments throughout the UK could follow suit and provide such tactile models and audio descriptions as it would enhance the enjoyment and gratification to any blind/visually impaired visitor. I strongly recommend visiting this British historical/religious place in the heart of Canterbury, in Kent on the southeast coast of the UK. Thanks for reading and listening. Enjoy, Tony :)
