Have you noticed that a lot of advertising of accessible events is so impersonal that you have to look quite hard to find this information?
Not only that, there is no personal attachment to an event such as not naming the BSL Interpreter. This is the equivalence of advertising a music concert and neglecting to name the act.
The people who work so hard to create an accessible environment have been doing this for years, they are integral to the access being provided and for them to be not mentioned does not allow the Deaf and Disabled communities to put a level of personal attachment to the events.
Granted, there are certain groups within the Deaf and Disabled communities who do not want their Deafness/Disability being highlighted. It is a difficult subject because at the end of the day:
* Everyone is different.
* Everyone has issues.
* Everyone has feelings.
When access to events fail, there is so much frustration and it all falls on Deaf ears (pun intended!). So how do we go about changing this?
We need to make it easier for people to talk about issues without feeling embarrassed and by creating an environment where the communities are able to talk would go a long way. As said earlier, much of the access options are portrayed in a very impersonal way and it does not make people go “Oh yes, there’s a performance on that I can access!”.
Much of the information is hidden away in corners, paragraphs, on pages unrelated to the event and has often been issued at short notice compared to a “Normal” event which might be advertised months in advance.
If you have thoughts on this, please do comment 🙂