While there’s been heightened visibility of theater actors with disabilities thanks to productions like Deaf West Theater’s “Spring Awakening,” which featured the first actor in a wheelchair on Broadway, it’s equally important to accommodate audience members with disabilities. Enter Theater Access NYC.
Theatre Development Fund (TDF) and the Broadway League have partnered to “break barriers to Broadway” with a new website that filters Broadway productions based on their accommodations for theatergoers who use wheelchairs, are deaf or hard of hearing, blind, autistic, or have other physical disabilities or sensory sensitivities.
“Our goal for the new website is to provide all theatregoers who want to experience our shows an easy-to-navigate place where they can find extensive information in one location,” Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin said in a statement.
The site is simple, sleek, and user-friendly, allowing visitors to easily sift through dozens of Broadway shows by date, availability, and accessibility based on their particular needs. That includes finding shows and venues with wheelchair access, iCaption units and assistive listening devices, sign language interpretation, D-scriptive audio devices, autism friendly performances, and more.
“It’s at the heart of Theatre Development Fund’s mission to do what we can to make theatre accessible to all who want to attend, no matter what the barrier,” TDF’s executive director Victoria Bailey said. “Theatre Access NYC will make it easier for New Yorkers and visitors with these functional needs see more theatre.”
Victor Calise, commissioner for the New York City Mayor’s Office for people with disabilities, added that Theater Access NYC is “moving NYC one step closer to achieving its goal of being the most accessible city in the world.”
To top it all off, TDF and the Broadway League ensured that with the help of their developer, their site meets Web accessibility standards, allowing all people with disabilities to access it.
For more information on Theater Access NYC visit theateraccess.nyc.
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