ipl-logo

What Are The Similarities Between The Deaf Community And Attending Live Theatre

1463 Words6 Pages

Participating in and attending live theatre is an activity many people enjoy, but for some the participation does not come easy. An example of this can be found within the Deaf community and how their experiences have created a call for change. Theatres are not doing everything that they can to make theatre more accessible for Deaf audiences and in turn should utilize video technology, American sign language interpreters, and closed captioning. Incorporating these methods makes attending live theatre more of an option for the Deaf community than it was in the past. In order to understand how far accessibility has come, it is important to understand the history of the Deaf community.
Those that were deaf or hard of hearing in America were not …show more content…

Many hearing individuals enjoy captions, but they are incredibly useful for the Deaf community and those that are hard of hearing too. Rather than using automatically generated captions, some institutions have begun implementing smarter programs to generate captions. The implementation of real-time subtitle synchronization allows deaf audience members to witness the show at the same speed as hearing audience members. These systems use the scripts and the actor’s speech to ensure that each caption shows up when the actor says their line (Bastas 657). Programs such as this make theatre more entertaining and enjoyable for the Deaf community, especially since they do not have to worry about reading ahead or potentially having a line not …show more content…

Theatre brings people together. and companies are finally taking the necessary steps to be more inclusive of the Deaf community. While many improvements have been made, there is still a long way to go. Finding ways to utilize video formats more often (and not just during a pandemic), making interpreters more accessible, and ensuring captions are not automatically generated is incredibly helpful, especially since these methods are beneficial to many different communities. Deaf theatre and accessibility has come a long way, but by considering and implementing these methods whenever possible, theatre can become a more accessible, promising, and inclusive

More about What Are The Similarities Between The Deaf Community And Attending Live Theatre

Open Document