Communication Access UK

Also called Communication Access Symbol, CAUK

A free online course for any business or service, and a symbol on the door that says the staff inside know how to communicate with you.

What it is

Communication Access UK is a scheme, launched in 2020 and led by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists with a partnership of communication charities including Communication Matters, STAMMA, the Stroke Association and Headway. Organisations complete free online training, commit to a set of standards, and then display the Communication Access Symbol: a blue and white sign showing two figures with a speech bubble.

The idea is the same as the hearing loop sign or the accessible toilet sign. You see it, and you know something about what to expect inside.

Who it can help

Two groups. First, anyone with a communication difficulty: people who use AAC, people with aphasia, people who stammer, Deaf people, autistic people, people with a learning disability. The symbol tells them a shop, bank, GP surgery, council office or cafe has thought about them before they walked in.

Second, the organisations themselves. A small business that would never fund a training day can put every member of staff through the modules in about an hour, free. It is not a legal standard and it does not replace the duties in the Equality Act; it is the practical version of them.

How it works

The training is short video-based modules made by people with communication difficulties, covering what different difficulties look like, what helps, and what not to do. The standards that come with the symbol are simple and concrete: give people time, do not finish their sentences, do not pretend to understand, offer pen and paper, accept any way of communicating, ask what helps.

An organisation registers, staff complete the training, the organisation signs up to the standards, and it can then display the symbol and be listed as a Communication Accessible organisation. Anyone can complete the training as an individual too.

Getting started

If you run anything with a front desk, register this week and get the staff through the modules. Then do the small physical things the standards imply: pen and paper at the counter, a printed communication board or the Fiducia Talk board open on a tablet nearby, and a rule that nobody is hurried.

If you are a person with a communication difficulty, look for the symbol and, when you do not see it, ask a business whether it has heard of the scheme. Businesses respond to customers. If you support a school, church, club or care home, ask for the whole staff team to do the training; it is free and it takes an hour.

Where to get help

The scheme's own site has the registration and the training. RCSLT leads it. Communication Matters is the AAC partner and its annual conference is where the scheme is discussed. For the wider legal picture, see reasonable adjustments and communication-friendly environments.