Steve Mannix looks at how the arts are coping a year after new disability legislation was passed.
Last September, Shape hosted the first ever Theatre Access Conference in partnership with the Society of London Theatres and Audiences London. It came roughly a year after Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act was passed whereby equal access to goods and services for disabled people became law. The conference was an ideal opportunity to gauge how far the sector has come.
With a potential audience of around 1.8 million deaf and disabled people on their doorsteps, London theatres, concert halls and arts venues have had to demonstrate their commitment to making their services accessible to all. The legal and social cases for inclusion are coupled with the powerful statistic that deaf and disabled people have an annual spending power of over £80bn; an economy that clearly cannot be ignored. For Shape and our partners, the conference was a major landmark because it showed how the debate had moved on. We no longer need to bang on about why deaf and disabled people should be able to access the arts; the representatives of over 100 managements demonstrated that they had already accepted the arguments. They were willing to take the next step. They wanted to know about employment, how to involve creative teams in providing quality access alongside a quality artistic experience. Who would have thought it?
The issues raised at the event varied from ticket-pricing policies to marketing assisted performances to deaf and disabled people. Ticketing and pricing policies is the hot topic of the moment! Many theatres thought it was unreasonable to be providing discounts to disabled people who were perfectly able to pay full price, whereas other delegates felt that a discount should only be provided for an extra seat for an enabler. It became clear that further research was required. Shape has now committed to carrying out this research and publishing a clear policy on equality in pricing for theatres. We know that the road to access is not an easy one, and that we are going to encounter many questions on the way, many of which dont have easy answers. But we were overwhelmed with the enthusiasm of staff and their managements to face them together.
We should congratulate those working in the arts for taking a hard critical look at their practices and showing a real commitment to change. This isnt an easy step, and is one that few industries have dared to take. We really do lead. This is a great start, but if we are to be successful, access issues need to stay high up the agenda within the sector. Shape is already busy planning the second Theatre Access Conference, which will be held in the autumn of this year. We hope that the conferences will become an annual event and provide the opportunity for an open forum where together we can celebrate the many changes already made, discuss practical ways to overcome the remaining barriers to theatre accessibility and set realistic targets.
We would love to hear your views! What do you think are the hot topics in 2006? Visit our website and let us know...
The Theatre Access report is available from www.shapearts.org.uk . Hard copies are also available at a small fee to cover costs. To order,
e: richard@shapearts.org.uk