Accessibility at Live Theatres
May 8, 2019 Greg Thomson
Under the Customer Service Standards of the AODA, service providers must make their goods, services, and facilities accessible to customers with disabilities. In an earlier article, we outlined accessible features for performance venues, such as movie and live theatres. In this article, we will focus on services that make live events, like plays and concerts, accessible. Accessible live theatre makes events more meaningful for people of all abilities.
Accessibility at Live Theatres
Service Animals, Support Persons, and Assistive Devices
Accessible live theatre policies should cover any rules they have relating to patrons with service animals, support persons, or assistive devices. For example, venues might ask service-animal-handlers to contact them and arrange seats with room for the animal. Likewise, venues waiving or reducing fees for support-person tickets might ask for proof of disability, such as:
- An access2 card
- A CNIB card
- A wheelchair
Similarly, venues might ask patrons with large assistive devices to leave them in the lobby. In this case, venues should explain how they will meet these patrons’ accessibility needs. For instance, policies should state:
- What devices count as “large”
- Where devices will be stored
- When staff will return devices
Performances
Furthermore, theatres can offer more services to make performances fully accessible. For instance, venues [...]