Cultural Access and Accessibility Resources

community | arts in education | cultural access and accessibility

• Accessibility
• Cultural Access

Accessibility

Can Everyone Read It?

In writing and designing any type of publication it is important to make choices that enhance the readability for everyone, including people with low vision and people who are blind. Here are some suggestions for making a well-designed print piece that is also accessibile.

• Chose a sans serif typeface and maintain a minimum of 12 point font size.
• Maintain leading (space between lines) of 20% greater than the font size.
• Use uppercase and lowercase letters and avoid italics and underlining.
• margins should be flush left and ragged right.
• The contrast of text and visuals to background should be 70% or greater.
• Illustrations are not printed over text or vice versa.
• Paper is a non-shiny stock.
• The size and shape of the print materials is manageable by someone with a hand or motor disability.
• A spiral binding (for a larger publication) will allow for a piece to lie flat if someone is using a reading machine.
• The design of the print materials is clear and logical for someone with a visual disability using a CCTV or reading machine,
• The print materials are availabe in other alternative formats (large print, braille - grade II)
• Any image has a descriptive caption (d-tag) attached so that individuals using a reading machine can get a description of visual references.

Interacting with People with Disabilities

The most important thing to remember when interacting with people with disabilities is exactly that -they're people. While terminology and self-identity are always changing, if you apply the 3 C's - Common sense, Courtesy, and Consideration - to your association with all people, you can't go wrong. This is good advice when training your staff and volunteers.

Providing Effective Communication

Places of public accommodation are required to provide individuals with disabilities affecting hearing, vision, speech or cognition with effective communication through auxiliary aids and services. The auxiliary aids and services include several communication techniques and devices that should allow the individual to benefit from facilities, services and programs.

For individuals with visual disabilities, information provided in visual formats should also be available in audible or tactile forms. Auxiliary aids and services for people with hearing or speech disabilities include communication devices such as TDDs and assistive listening devices. For people with cognitive disabilities, it is important to provide information that is clear. Techniques and devices for providing access to information are listed below.

VISUAL DISABILITIES
Large Print Materials
Braille
Audio Tapes
Readers
Computer Disks/CD/DVD
Radio Reading Services and Telephone Tapes

HEARING OR SPEECH DISABILITIES
Telephone Amplifiers
Captioning (Open & Closed)
Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf
Telecommunication Relay Services
Assistive Listening Systems
Interpreters
Computer-Aided Real-Time Reporting (CART) (LED Screen)

COGNITIVE DISABILITIES
Printed materials that are easy to understand
Use of graphic symbols, color and other techniques to illustrate the meaning of verbal information.

Cultural Access

Information (MORE!) Coming Soon

VSADE is working hard to make our Resource Center a useful component of our website. We hope to add information to this section that would provide useful ways to make arts programming and other cultural events fully accessible for all individuals. We also want to add useful ideas and/or links for accessibility and disability advocacy.

Please check back frequently and feel free to contact us and offer opinions as to what type of information about Cultural Access that you might find most useful.

Ten Ways to Achieve Arts Access

1. Approach Access as a Process. Make arts access part of the fabric of your organization. Just as you never stop producing new events, exhibits and programs, you’ll find endless ways to include the greatest possible audience.

2. Make Access Somebody’s Job. At every arts institution, there should be a person who has the specific responsibility of arts access.

3. Build Relationships. Create an accessibility committee made up of the representatives in the disability community and key staff at your organization. Find out what you’re doing right, and what needs improvement.

4. Evaluate What You’ve Got. To know what you need, examine what you’ve got. What physical alterations do you need to make at your facility? Who on the staff needs sensitivity training? Ask your new accessibility committee to help conduct the evaluations and the training sessions.

5. Take Advantage of Free Resources. Free help and resources exist on every level. For instance, just do an Internet search on “cultural access” to find a wealth of online resources.

6. Make Goals You Can Achieve. Start with what’s doable. If you’re a small-town theater, maybe include an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter or volunteer audio describer at one performance. Remember that it’s better to do something small than nothing at all.

7. Market to Community. Access is useless if the people who can use it don’t know about it. Create an access statement that clearly describes what you do offer and your commitment to include all people at your institution. Advertise your access offerings in the publications read by these populations (which are often the same publications read by the general public).

8. Consider Both Sides of the Stage. Arts access isn’t just about the audience. People with disabilities sing, dance, act, paint, direct, play instruments, choreograph, do set design, produce, write, sculpt –everything artists do. And their work needs to be staged, performed and exhibited.

9. Accept Criticisms. Establish a grievance process where people can lodge complaints. Ask for feedback and bravely receive it.

10. Build on What You Create. Never stop creating access. Keep coming up with new ideas and innovations. Remember, it’s a process. When you receive feedback from people with disabilities, put it to use.

The Law (as it pertains to Cultural Access)

ADA Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-336) gives civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities that are like those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities in employments, accommodations, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications.

Specifically TITLE III: Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities.
Private entities such as restaurants, theaters, museums, hotels and retail stores may not discriminate against individuals with disabilities, effective January 26, 1992.
Auxiliary aids and service must be provided to individuals with vision or hearing impairments or other individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would result.
Physical barriers in existing facilities must be removed, if removal is readily achievable. If not, alternative methods of providing the services must be offered, if they are readily achievable.
All new construction and alterations of facilities must be accessible.

What is a Universal Enviornment for the ARTS?

A universal or inclusive environment for the arts is one that is usable by everyone, people with and without disabilities and people of all ages. It is an environment with a physical plant (buildings and grounds) and communication systems that are usable by everyone. It is an environment where programs and exhibits are chosen that reflect a commitment to being part of an inclusive community.

An opportunity….
54 million Americans report some level of disability
Fewer that 15% of people with disabilities were born with them
One third of Americans with disabilities are 65 or older
By age 40 some form of joint deterioration -particularly hips and knees- is experienced by 90% of Americans
A 60-year-old needs twice as much light as a 40-year-old to read a program.
The number of Americans with hearing impairments equals the population of California
The United States Census Bureau estimates that people with disabilities have over $188 billion annually in disposable income

Why is Cultural Access Important?

First of all Cultural Access is a long-range commitment to helping cultural organizations identify and improve physical and programmatic access for people with disabilities, their families and their friends.

...and so why is Cultural Access important?

There are several ways to respond to this question, and the response might depend upon who you are, what your individual and/or organizational responsibilities might be, and simply how you view the world. Particularly in the arts, diverse points of view continually add to the artistic experience. While easily understood by those who directly benefit from “improved access” initiatives, exploring broad based access issues can lead to fascinating and comprehensive improvements to cultural venues. Ultimately exploring “access” is a process that benefits the entire organization and the wider community. A healthy cultural community contributes to the economic diversity and vitality of the larger community.

There are many ways of perceiving art (in all its forms) and the information related to it. When a cultural organization takes on the mind-set, the challenge, and the privilege of presenting itself as available to all people, some very interesting conversations can take place.

back to top