Nearly 400 people have helped to achieve a new Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Tactile Signing Lesson’, in an event organised by the national disability charity, Sense, and the international accountancy and advisory firm, Mazars.

Members of the public were joined by staff from Mazars and Sense to participate in the lesson that took place in Tower Gardens, by the Tower of London. The total number of participants was 390 people, which exceeded the 250 target set by Guinness World Records.

Tactile signing is a common means of communication used by people who are deafblind (meaning they have both a sight and hearing impairment), which is based on a sign language and involves touch. The event was organised to raise awareness of the different communication methods used by people with complex disabilities.

The 30-minute lesson, led by Emma Boswell, who is deafblind and works for Sense, focused on one form of tactile signing, ‘deafblind manual’, an adapted form of finger spelling taken from British Sign Language (BSL). Each letter is spelt out on the hand, enabling communication by touch alone.

Richard Karmel, Mazars London Managing Partner, said: “Across the UK, we value our strong relationship with Sense and take pride in supporting the incredible work it does: this fantastic event showed how enthusiastic our people are to get involved, and I’m delighted that we were able to set a World Record and help further raise the awareness of the great work that Sense are performing”.

Richard Kramer, Sense Chief Executive, said: “Everyone at Sense is thrilled to have set this new World Record with our partner Mazars. This was a wonderful event that provided the opportunity to learn how people who are deafblind, and those with complex disabilities, communicate, and also get into the record books! We’d like to thank Mazars for their support.”

About Mazars

Mazars is an international, integrated and independent organisation, specialising in audit, accountancy, advisory, tax and legal services. As of 1st January 2018, Mazars and its correspondents operate throughout 102 countries and territories, of which 86 are part of Mazars’ international integrated partnership and 16 are Mazars correspondent firms and representative offices. The Praxity Alliance offers Mazars operating capacity via professional teams in 21 additional countries. Mazars draws upon the expertise of 20,000 women and men led by 980 partners working from 300 offices worldwide. We assist clients of all sizes, from SMEs to midcaps and global players as well as start-ups and public organisations, at every stage of their development. In the UK, Mazars has approximately 140 partners and over 1,700 employees, and is ranked one of the top 10 firms nationally.

About Sense

Sense is a national disability charity that supports people with complex disabilities to be understood, connected and valued. Sense supports children, young people and adults in their home and in the community, in their education and transition to adulthood and through its holidays, arts, sports and wellbeing programmes. Sense campaigns passionately for the rights of the people it serves, and offers practical help and support to families and carers, including information, advice, short breaks and family events. For more information please visit www.sense.org.uk