How we’ve made our new activity rooms accessible

Written by Michelle Williams on

We’ve recently opened Sense Hub Loughborough, our new centre bringing more support to disabled people living in the East Midlands.

The centre is home to a specialist college as well as three brand new studio spaces, each packed with the latest in accessible tech, sensory equipment and bespoke tactile furniture.

The rooms have been designed so that those using them take ownership of the spaces. Tactile storage encourages participants to explore with their hands, to find their own equipment and choose their own activities.

A large spacious room with windows covering all of the walls. There is a row of wooden storage units, covered in giant colourful braille dots along one wall. In front of the storage units is a small orange wooden table with pale wooden chairs, a storage unit shaped like a house filled with booked and colourful mats on the floor.
Children’s studio at Sense Hub Loughborough.

Our children’s studio is home to our early intervention and play service and is a wonderland for disabled children and their families. It’s filled with sensory toys, bubble machines, musical instruments and storybooks and has lots of space for little ones to run, dance and explore.

We’ve packed so many activities into this space. We have tables with removable compartments for sand and water play, interactive TV screens, a sensory corner and even a secret den hidden under one of our desks.

A young boy with blonde hair wearing a shirt is looking at a tube of bubbles illuminated green.
Alfie enjoying the bubble tubes in the sensory corner of the children’s studio, Sense Hub Loughborough.

In this space we host sessions like sensory explorers, movers and shakers and sensory stories. Because this space was made for children, it was only right to put the controls to our sensory lighting panel low down so they can choose for themselves how they want the room to look and feel during their visits.

A large spacious room with lots of windows. On the left hand side of the room are floor to ceiling mirrors and a row of pale wood and orange benches in front. In the middle of the back wall is a large TV on a stand. To the left of the TV is a stack of purple and orange beanbags and a wooden storage unit. To the right of the TV is a wooden storage unit with 'active' in black lettering.
One end of the activity studio at Sense Hub Loughborough.

The activity studio at Sense Hub Loughborough is a huge space, perfect for sports and physical activities. We’ve got floor to ceiling mirrors along one of our walls so when you take part in a dance session, you feel like a professional.

This studio is so big that we sometimes we separate it in the middle giving us two spaces and twice the amount of activities. We host everything in here from slow and steady seated yoga to up tempo sensory dance.

A young lasy with blonde hair tied back raises her fists in celebration. She is standing next to a basket ball hoop in a bright, airy room.
A young lady taking part in sports activities at Sense Hub Loughborough.

As well as housing our bespoke sports furniture that includes a polybat table, basketball nets and targets, this studio is also home to our arts and wellbeing programmes.

Large, tactile storage units labelled with ‘art’ ‘music’ and ‘relax’ describe exactly what goes on in this space. These cabinets hold everything that you could imagine to host an accessible visual arts, music or wellbeing sessions including instruments, craft supplies and a massage bed.

A large open room with lots of windows. In the middle of the room is a storage unite with an orange frame on top with hanging plants suspended. To the right of the unit are two green arm chairs and two orange arm chairs, arranged in a circle. To the left of the unit is two tables with chairs arranged around them. At the from of the photo is a bespoke storage unit with the word 'music' in black lettering.
The other end of the activity studio at Sense Hub Loughborough.

We offer arts, music and wellbeing sessions both on a one-to-one basis and to small groups, this means we can tailor the sessions completely to the needs of the participants.

The inside of a wooden cabinet housing lots of music equipment. On the left, the inside of the cabinet door, there are two guitars hanging up, cables wound up and headphones hanging on hooks. On the right are shelves housing bongo drums, colourful bells, drumsticks, colourful tubes and numbered orange boxes.
Inside the music storage cabinet.

Our final studio space isn’t quite finished but we’re excited to tell you more. Our employment studio focuses on helping disabled people get in to work. Here we host job search sessions, help with applications and interview techniques and will continue that support to make sure you have everything you need to do your new job.

It’s kitted out with the latest in assistive tech from laptops to digital magnifiers, adjustable desks to the newest software. We’ve got everything you need to start your journey into work or to change career path.

Love what you see? Why not come and visit us!

Come and see us

Want to book an activity? Want more information on a particular service? Find out everything you need to know about Sense Hub Loughborough.