Hannah Essex (Letters, 21 October) claims that “the theatre sector has for many years placed inclusion at its heart”, and gives the examples of “free and subsidised tickets, relaxed, captioned or signed performances, community partnerships, touring to underserved areas, and outreach in schools”. She then asserts: “These are not token gestures.”
I’m registered sight-impaired and have a number of spinal issues. Perhaps she’d like to join me for a performance of her choice and see just how tokenistic all these things largely are. Obtaining accessible tickets for myself and a companion is a challenge every time, and involves around four times more work than anyone else would be required to do.
Bigger venues are pulling back from access provision as costs tighten, and the number of theatres running access groups led by disabled theatre patrons has reduced. The information on theatre websites varies from non-existent to confusing. At the same time, many of us don’t want relaxed or accessible performances. We simply want to be able to attend the same performances as you, and have the same experience as you in doing so.
Mike Hughes
Manchester
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