By Pamela Walker
Promoting the Access you provide
--State your facility’s level of access on the
materials that you send to the general public.
[If it is only partial wheelchair access (i.e. bathrooms are not
accessible), be sure to indicate.]
--If you provide interpreting or audio description for
certain shows, state which ones.
--If you have assisted listening devices available, state
how one obtains them.
--If you provide large print programs, let people know.
--Ask people to identify if they are wheelchair users on
a reservation hotline, so that you will be prepared for seating them.
Seating
Especially small houses find that having removable seats
works best, so that they can sell the seats to both non-wheelchair users and
wheelchair users. Often this is in
the front row with a level stage. In
situations like this be sure to let the director and stage manager know that
wheelchair users in the audience will likely protrude onto the stage area more
than folks sitting in folding chairs; this way they can plan blocking and stage
design accordingly. Also, remember
that people who use wheelchairs have a right to sit with the people they came
with, so a seating arrangement that allows this is important.
Discount
There are two different reasons that establishments
provide discount tickets to people with disabilities and each one has a
different rationale:
--If you offer low-income rates to seniors and students,
it makes sense to offer it to low-income people with disabilities also.
If you feel that this leaves room for abuse, you can ask to see proof of
disability (i.e. Medicare card). If
folks balk at this, be sure it is understood that these are low-income tickets
and that Student I.D. or proof of age are required for the other low-income
tickets.
--Sometimes there is no choice but front row for people
with disabilities. Perhaps the
theatre layout only has wheelchair seating in front, or perhaps a person has low
vision, or perhaps a person is hard of hearing and needs to read lips or watch
an interpreter. When a person with
a disability needs to sit in the front row or a near-stage section and those
tickets are more expensive than elsewhere, it is the right thing to do to
provide those tickets at the price of the cheapest house tickets.
At least one additional ticket at this price is usually offered for their
companion.
Matinee
For many reasons (transportation, for example) it
is easiest for many people with disabilities to attend matinees.
Please offer at least one.
Production Poison
If you plan to use any chemicals (i.e. hairspray), perfumes
or incense during a production, please advertise this so that people who would
have health reactions to these products will be warned.
Likewise, if a strobe will be used, let people know, as it could trigger
seizures for epileptics. It would
be good to indicate these things on advertisement literature, on a sign at the
entrance, and in a pre-show announcement.
Facility Poison
Do not use air fresheners (i.e. as spray, in the toilet, or
on the wall) in the bathrooms, because many people have reactions (i.e.
migraines) to these products. Also,
please do not allow smoking in the facility and be sure to locate any outdoor
smoking area away from the main entrance or wheelchair entrance.
A notice on promotional materials requesting people to not wear perfumes
is a controversial issue, but more and more people are doing this.
It is being realized that many “cold” and “flu” symptoms that
people have (even non-disabled folk) are related to these types of products.
People with physical disabilities, however, often have a lower tolerance
to these toxins, due to such things as the overuse of antibiotics in their
medical histories.
Large Print Programs
Have a few large print programs (a simple 18 font)
available for those of us whose aged eyes aren’t what they used to be and for
folks with low vision.
Upstairs from Theater
Many small theater venues have a second floor that is not
wheelchair accessible. Often this
is used as a gallery for visual arts. Until
those floors can be made accessible, a person who can’t negotiate stairs may
have no idea of what is influencing the people who go up and down those stairs.
A photo exhibit of homeless people, for example, would put other theater
goers in a very different frame of mind than an exhibit of pop art.
One simple way to include the disabled person in on the upstairs
experience is to have a photo albumn downstairs that shows the exhibit.
This can be easily and cheaply done with a digital camera and a color
printer.
Location & Transportation
If you have a permanent facility, there is not much you can do about your
location. However, should you plan to relocate or for activities that utilize
other locations, keep in mind that many people with disabilities do not
drive. Many rely on public transportation for getting to and from
events. Things to consider are that bus lines are not necessarily
wheelchair accessible even if they say they are (i.e. what is their frequency of
lift breakdown?) and that some services only run certain hours (i.e. a subway
stop near a show means nothing regarding availability for a night show if it
closes at 9PM). On the positive side, some cities have taxi services that
can accommodate wheelchairs. Talk to people with disabilities in your area
to check out what locations are easy for them to get to by transportation.
Advisory Committee
For all the above and other issues that will come up in providing access for
people with disabilities, it works great to have an advisory committee of people
with disabilities set up. Find artists in your community who have
disabilities and who can think creatively about solutions to access
issues. This not only helps to insure that you have expert opinions at
your disposal, but it also creates paths for advertising your events to the
disability community.
[NOTE: The Screen Actor's Guild's web site has answers to frequently asked questions regarding the ADA and the media industry. It also give useful information on working with performers with disabilities: http://www.sag.com/disabilityfaqs.html]
Click Here to go back to PEP Home Page