Lack of accessibility increases isolation
A charity is calling on venues and performers to ensure they don’t forget about the 12 million people with hearing loss as the arts sector adapts to another lockdown.
Stagetext, which provides captioning and live subtitling in theatres and cultural venues, is concerned about the disproportionate impact the lockdown will have on deaf and hard of hearing people.
It follows official figures released in the summer which show that people with a hearing impairment are 45% more likely to have reported feeling lonely.
The arts charity has seen an increase in demand for live captioned performances online since the first UK lockdown, with a 110% increase in live subtitled events from April to October.
In April it provided the subtitling for the Phantom of the Opera, with an incredible 2.5 million watching using Stagetext’s subtitles (12.8 million in total watched the performance).
Nearly one in five (18%) of UK adults have hearing loss, yet fewer than 1% are fluent in British Sign Language.
Melanie Sharpe, chief executive of Stagetext, said: “We are fortunate enough in the UK to have some of the best theatres, museums and galleries in the world.
“We take for granted that most of us are able to enjoy incredible performances and exhibitions, even during a lockdown.
“For the 12 million in the UK who are hard of hearing, it’s not so easy, and we’ve got to do all we can to include them during these challenging times.
“People who are Deaf or with hearing loss are more likely to experience loneliness than non-disabled people, and access to the arts has been proven to improve mental wellbeing.”
The call comes as Stagetext celebrates its sixth annual Captioning Awareness Week (CAW) (9-15 November 2020), which is supported by theatres, museums and galleries in the UK.
The campaign highlights the importance of access to the arts for d/Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences, at a time when performances and exhibitions are being accessed online more than ever before.
Andrew Miller, UK Disability Champion for Arts & Culture, said: "Creative deaf and disabled people are facing unprecedented exclusion as a consequence of the pandemic, so there has never been a greater need for adequate access to online and physical spaces.
"Initiatives such as CAW20 are essential to raise awareness of the access challenge but also to ensure that the industry delivers an inclusive recovery for deaf, disabled artists and audiences alike.”
