Touch, describe, simple language – culture for everyone

Before the performance, the children will touch the “Hare and Hedgehog” stage set and feel the costumes and wigs. They will stand in the visitor’s seats and wear headphones. The Thalia Theater Halle is offering blind and visually impaired children a performance with audio description for the first time. During the performance on December 13th with lots of music, what they cannot see will be described to the children. Further offers are planned at the Halle stages in the spring: The opera “La Bohème” can then be experienced with audio description, and another piece will have a translation into sign language.

Many cultural institutions such as theaters and museums in Saxony-Anhalt offer special offers to people with special needs. Accessibility no longer just means how far you can go in a wheelchair or that special parking spaces are available.

The theater Magdeburg has already gained more experience with audio description. Last season, 25 tickets were sold to blind or disabled audiences and accompanying persons. The numbers weren’t high, said spokeswoman Lisa Dressler, but there was consistently good feedback. And it is hoped that those who have taken advantage of the offer will come back.

The theater is continuing its offerings this season, for example on December 8th and January 18th with the opera “Carmen” and in the new year with the opera “I Capuleti ei Montecchi – Romeo and Juliet” on the 13th and 23rd. May. Then, after a tactile tour of the stage, 20 seats in the first three rows are reserved for the visually impaired and their companions. The house has over 20 devices that are necessary for audio description. The offer does not cost the visitor anything extra. It is included in the admission price, i.e. the theater.

“Museums have long since adapted to people with special needs – and the offerings are used by a wider audience,” said the spokeswoman for the Moritzburg Halle Art Museum, Katrin Greiner. The tactile image “The White Cat,” for example, has long been a focal point not only for visually impaired people, but also for sighted people from small to large. The cat is one of five tactile objects in the house. The house had paintings recreated in relief – so you can feel what otherwise hangs flat on the wall with your fingers.

The Moritzburg also offers guided tours for various target groups – in simple language, sign language and also for people with dementia and their companions. While a second theme, the history of the building, is planned for next year’s sign language tours, some of the offerings still have to reach their audience. The tours used for people with dementia have so far been “very rare,” said Katrin Greiner. The museum is now contacting supporting institutions.

The Saxony-Anhalt Museum Association said that there was awareness of the issue of inclusion in the houses, even in the small ones. “Audio guides, which are often standard, are also a help for visually impaired people,” said managing director Luisa Töpel.

I’m in Gleimhaus Halberstadtthe Museum of the German Enlightenment, it was immediately clear that the redesign of the permanent exhibition would be accompanied by new approaches. “(Johann Wilhelm Ludwig) Gleim became blind himself in this house,” said director Ute Pott. The museum’s principle of “don’t touch anything” has been reversed to “touch everything” – except for paintings and a few other objects. Employees from the Diakonie workshops, among others, helped with the redesign.

There is now an audio guide and many objects are described. There are tactile objects, a large portion of the texts are available in Braille, and texts are also written in simple language for people with learning difficulties. After completion, however, it was discovered that access for people with disabilities does not begin in the first room. The bell and the toilets were subsequently re-marked. That also led to additional costs, says Pott.

Accessibility is always a cost factor. Texts for the audio description must be written and recorded in such a way that they exactly fit the flow of the performance. The Magdeburg Theater has so far had one house in Leipzig worked together. The aim, however, is to set up an expanded offering using our own forces in the future, said theater spokeswoman Dressler. And the Bühnen Halle also has this goal. The tactile models in the Moritzburg in Halle cost a five-figure amount, as spokeswoman Greiner said. The Gleimhaus raised additional expenses.

However, for some cultural institutions, accessibility stops right at the door. The State Museum of Prehistory, whose accessibility is certified, provides information online: “Please note: The “State Museum of Prehistory” tram stop is not barrier-free.”