It’s been exciting to see the smart caption glasses develop and we’ve been advising on the project to help ensure they will be a valuable form of additional access. It was great to see the BBC’s recent report on these glasses and on access to the arts.
We wanted to talk about the description of caption units as ‘normally awkwardly positioned’ and that captioning is limited to one or two shows a month.
Stagetext work with over 200 fantastic theatres and producers, some of whom are able to fully incorporate caption boxes into their set designs to ensure that access is a part of the show. Theatres work hard to seat caption users in the ideal seats with the best sightlines and we are seeing more venues and theatre companies captioning every performance of their productions.
The glasses are incredibly innovative and will allow for more choice as to when you can visit the theatre. Open captioning is vital and for many d/Deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing people it can be the preferred form of access.
Whether you prefer open captions, or the new smart glasses, access is about offering choice and varying solutions that fit an individual’s requirements, so everyone can have a great theatre experience.
The BBC news piece we are refering to can be viewed on the BBC’s website.
