Kerry Norgaard-Gerhard, wrote the following letter to Hancher Auditorium to explain what kind of alternative formats give the most independence to people with different levels of vision impairment:

Dear Mr. Swanson;

As a legally blind graduate student who enjoys attending programs at Hancher Auditorium, and as a member of the University’s Council on Disability Awareness, I want to commend you and your colleagues for your efforts to accommodate persons with disabilities. You are an important positive role model for the University and Iowa City communities; you are highly visible, highly regarded, and your events are widely attended.

When I attended the most recent performance by the Tallis Scholars, I was pleased to find available a large print handbill. Being a highly functioning partially blind person, I looked forward to reading the texts and biographies for myself rather than asking my husband to read them to me.

I would like to offer a few comments and suggestions for improving accommodations for partially blind persons who attend Hancher programs. First of all, the large print handbill needs to make use of the larger fonts that are available. The current handbill appears to be an enlargement of the standard handbill. While this process enlarges the contents of the handbill twofold, the font size remains too small to be of practical use for most low vision readers. Standard large print fonts are at least 18, and usually 24 or 30 point bold face fonts; the large print handbill text fonts appear to be about a 12 point. By standard, I mean that these are the font sizes and faces employed by the Iowa Department for the Blind, the Library of Congress, and the University’s Student Disability Services Office when they communicate in print to partially blind persons.

I realize that Hancher provides handbills on cassette, and this is a decent alternative to large print or Braille. Most blind persons, however, prefer to read rather than listen. There are several reasons for this. First, it is more difficult for a person to relocate where they left off when listening is interrupted than it is to find his or her place where they left off in print or Braille. Second, not everyone who listens to cassettes can do so when there are other voices and sounds in the area. The third problem with handbills on cassette is that they do not allow the listener to browse through the material as one can with a print or Braille format. Like those who read the standard handbill, I like to prioritize my reading; I like to study my Latin as I read the Tallis Scholars text; I like to read about some performers and not others; some advertisements catch my attention while others do not. For these reasons, I prefer a print format to a cassette, just as totally blind persons who can read Braille usually prefer Braille over taped materials.

I realize that producing handbills with an adequate font size is more cumbersome than enlarging the copy. As a member of the Council on Disability Awareness, I have been working for years to move the University’s publications department toward making the publication of large print and Braille materials a standard practice on campus. If your handbills’ copy is written on computer, it is not difficult to utilize a larger font size once the master document is complete. Finally, since some elders in particular do not wish to draw attention to their disability, you might consider publishing large print handbills on standard size sheets of paper.

A second matter I would like to draw attention to also concerns accommodations for persons with low vision. I commend your audio descriptive system services, but this is not the only way to accommodate this population. At the Des Moines Civic Center, for example, there are a few seats reserved in the front row for people like myself, and, if I remember right, they are the same price as seats in the middle section of the auditorium. Donna Chandler, Director of Student Disability Services, tells me that Hancher has a similar policy; yet, when my husband has inquired about such seating arrangements with staff in the box office, he has been told repeatedly that no such seating is available. If such a policy exists, it may require a review from time to time. Another alternative would be to provide opera glasses or some similar assistive device. While I enjoy performances at Hancher and elsewhere on campus, they remain largely auditory experiences for me. They needn’t be.

Thank you very much for setting an example in your efforts to accommodate persons with disabilities. I hope my suggestions will be of some use. I have enclosed some examples of font sizes and faces to exemplify the difference in size and what a dramatic difference a bold faced font makes. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Kerry received the following letter from Hancher. The C.D.A. applauds the willingness of Hancher's staff to provide alternative formats which allow people with disabilities to enjoy the dramatic and musical perfomances at the University of Iowa.

Your commentary about the alternative format for our playbill was particularly intriguing. Other users had indicated that an audio version was most desired, and we have made that format available at each of our shows, as well as for the season brochures. We have not had anyone express your sentiment about the lack of browsibility before, yet it makes perfect sense. I have shared your letter with our graphic designer and asked him to investigate the possibility of providing the playbills in the format you outlined in your letter.

Availability of seating in the front row at Hancher events is best when our new season schedule is announced in late April. We do hold a number of seats in the front for our patrons with visual impairment, but we are seeing an increasing number of requests for them. Depending upon the time frame and the event's popularity, the seats may or may not remain available when a request is received. As that area is affected by our orchestra pit, it is changeable. As an event nears, additional technical information may reveal a reduced need for pit space. This results in the first row suddenly becoming the fifth row, which finds me scrambling to contact and move all the patrons who need to be in the front row!

The most effective way to get seated down front is to order early. If ordering by mail, include a note stating very clearly what type of accommodation is needed. If ordering by phone, make use of the access line at 335-1158, so that you will be in touch with someone who can access the up-front seating if it is still open.

You also mention the possibility of our providing other assistive devices. We do not provide opera glasses free of charge, though I believe they are for sale in our gift shop. Many patrons bring their own pair to use at performances.

Again, your input is invaluable to our efforts, and we do appreciate your thoughtful ideas. Please feel free to call me about any of the issues we've begun discussing!

Sincerely,
Leslie Ireland-Anstedt
Access Coordinator
Hancher Auditorium
335-1158

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