Auckland Art Gallery facade

Arts organisations and venues will become more accessible this year, thanks to eleven grants provided by Creative New Zealand for projects ranging from sign language interpretations and audio described performances to music workshops and concerts for disabled children and young adults, and improved physical access.   Totalling $30,000, the one-off grants are being administered by Arts Access Aotearoa through its Arts For All Programme, a partnership programme with Creative New Zealand. The aim of this programme is to work with representatives from the disability sector to support arts organisations, venues and producers to improve their access.

Stephen Wainwright, Chief Executive, Creative New Zealand said the one-off grants signal the organisation’s commitment to supporting improved access to arts events for all New Zealanders. They complement the publication Arts for All: opening doors to disabled people and the annual Big ‘A’ Creative New Zealand Arts for All Award.  “It’s great to see the range of projects and the organisations’ enthusiasm to build new audiences by making performances, facilities and information more accessible to disabled people,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the long-term impact of this investment and of Arts Access Aotearoa’s Arts for All Programme.”

Richard Benge, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa said the one-off grants build on the work being done through the Arts For All Programme. They have also prompted valuable discussions with the organisations.  “I am very pleased to see the level of commitment and creative ideas coming from the arts community to improve access for everyone wanting to engage in the arts,” he said.

The eleven grant recipients will also contribute their own funding to their projects.

The grants will go to

• Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki to increase access to its programmes, provide disability awareness training for staff, and provide a series of signed talks about works in its collection in 2012

• Auckland Theatre Company to install ramps in its premises and make its website more accessible to people with a visual impairment

• Capital E National Theatre for Children to provide signed performances of three different works in its 2012 programme

• Chamber Music New Zealand to present a workshop and concert in the Wellington Town Hall for disabled children and young adults so they can experience live music up close, and interact with musicians and their instruments

• Fortune Theatre, Dunedin to establish best practice methodologies for audio-described performances and present six audio-described performances in 2012

• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to increase the number of its performances to students in special needs schools in Auckland

• Pablos Art Studios, Wellington to provide staff training for its tutors, enhancing their engagement with those studio’s artists who have visual, hearing or communication impairments

• Q Theatre, Auckland to develop an accessibility policy and action plan, promote its access to a wide audience, and provide disability awareness training for staff, board and management

• Silo Theatre, Auckland to provide signed performances of Tribes by Nina Raine, an award-winning work about the politics of communication for hearing, hearing impaired and Deaf people

• Studio2, Dunedin to display artwork by disabled artists to professional standards in its exhibition space

• Theatre Royal Charitable Trust, Christchurch to contribute to the installation of an accessible lift, catering for disabled patrons, to the upper levels of the Isaac Theatre Royal.

Source: Arts Access Aotearoa

In 2011, the New Zealand National Foundation for the Deaf (NFD) commissioned the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute (NZTRI) to conduct research into the tourism, travel, and hospitality experiences and needs of people with hearing impairments.   Hearing impairment ranges from slight hearing loss to total loss. The research was led by Dr. Sandra Rhodda, Research Programme Leader in Access Tourism. The research included two surveys, one for residents of New Zealand (“NZ”) and one for residents of countries other than NZ (called Internationals, or “Int”) who are deaf or have hearing loss.   The aim of the research was to find out what it is like to travel with hearing loss, how the travel experiences of hearing impaired people can be improved, to establish what people with hearing loss want in terms of tourism products and services, and to offer a better understanding of Access Tourism as a legitimate tourism market.  It also evaluated the case for the development of a ‘Hearing Tick’ for tourism businesses that cater for people with hearing loss.

In summary, the survey found that

• The top four reasons why NZ and Int respondents travel in general are: for enjoyment (84%/91%), to connect with friends, family or partner (84%/59%), to have new experiences (65%/72%), and for relaxation (53%/57%).  In other words, for the same reasons as people without hearing loss travel.
• NZ respondents on average took 7.18 overnight domestic trips during 2010; this is more than the number of domestic overnight trips (4.2) taken by NZers in general. NZ respondents took either one (30%), two (11%), or three or more (10%) international trips during 2010. Forty-nine percent did not travel internationally.
• The primary reasons NZ respondents took their most recent domestic trip were to be with friends and family (31%), to holiday (25%), for business (11%), or to attend conferences (10%).
• The majority (82%) of NZ respondents travelled with at least one other person on their most recent domestic trip – mainly a spouse or partner (73%). Eighteen percent travelled alone.
• On their most recent domestic trip, NZ respondents stayed an average of 4.6 nights away from home, and spent on average $107 per person per day on transport, accommodation, activities and attractions, and food and beverage.
• Thirty-three percent of Int respondents took between three and five domestic overnight trips in their own country. The mean number of domestic overnight trips taken by Int respondents was 6.8.
• Forty percent of Int respondents did not take any international trips during 2010. Of those who did travel internationally, the majority (83%) took between one and three trips.
• Forty-three percent of Int respondents have previously visited NZ, 47% have never visited NZ but plan to do so one day; 10% have never visited and have no plans to do so.
• For those Int respondents who have been to NZ, the main reasons for their last visit were ‘holiday’ (42%), to be with friends and/or family (15%), and to attend a conference or similar event (13%).   The majority (83%) of Int respondents who visited NZ travelled with at least one other person on their  last visit – mainly their spouse or partner. Seventeen percent of Int respondents travelled by themselves to NZ.  On their last visit to NZ, Int respondents stayed an average of 13.2 days.
• Just under half (46%) of NZ respondents are somewhat dissatisfied with the number of domestic overnight trips they currently take. Factors that prevent these respondents from travelling more domestically are cost (74%), a concern that their hearing needs will not be met (37%), and difficulty finding information about access for visitors with hearing loss (24%).  Fifty-nine percent of NZ respondents ‘agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ that they would take more domestic overnight trips if the level of service for people with hearing loss across the tourism industry in NZ was improved.
• Just under half (43%) of Int respondents are somewhat dissatisfied with the number of international trips they currently take. Factors preventing Int visitors from taking more international trips are cost (73%), time constraints (54%), concerns that their hearing needs will not be met (33%), and difficulty finding information about access for visitors with hearing loss (25%).
• Both NZ and Int respondents agree (mean 4.4-4.6 out of 5) that the most important access needs when travelling away from home include customer service staff who have a ‘can-do’ attitude and the provision of reliable information. This includes information about safety in clear print, emergency alarms in public areas that are visual as well as audible, public audio announcements also provided in text on TV screens, and customer service staff who are knowledgeable about serving guests with hearing loss.
• When asked what other things would make their travel more enjoyable and accessible, both NZ and Int respondents highlighted the importance of understanding, patient staff trained to know how to accommodate people with hearing loss, how to meet their needs, and what to do in an emergency.
• Over two-thirds (70%) of NZ and half (52%) of Int respondents indicated that it is difficult to find information about NZ tourism products that are accessible to people with hearing loss.
• Forty-two percent of NZ and 29% of Int respondents agreed with the statement that ‘information about services for the hearing impaired is often wrong or misleading’.
• The reasons most often stated by both NZ and Int respondents for not seeking information about NZ tourism products were: a lack of knowledge on how to seek information and a perception that it is too hard to find. Some also think the information does not exist, and that businesses do not cater for people with hearing loss.
• The majority of NZ (90%) and over half (55%) of Int respondents feel that the level of service in the NZ tourism industry for people with hearing loss needs to be improved.
• Nearly two thirds (60%) of NZ and three quarters of Int respondents indicate they would ‘often’ return to a tourism business that has good services for people with hearing loss; 64% and 76% would tell friends and family about such a business.
• The majority of both NZ (88%) and Int (89%) respondents think it is a good idea to have a hearing-rating symbol that NZ businesses could use to show they are accessible to people with hearing loss.
• The main reasons given by both domestic and Int respondents for saying the use of a ‘hearing tick’ is a good idea are: to show that people with hearing loss are accepted and provided for, to reduce anxiety and frustration, to make the business easily recognisable, to promote awareness by businesses of people with hearing loss, and to improve first time and repeat patronage by people with hearing loss.
• The majority of NZ (83%) and Int (91%) respondents indicate that they would visit a website that had reliable information on tourism businesses in NZ that cater for people with hearing loss.

The full report can be found on the NZTRI site and on the NFD site.

The New Zealand National Foundation for the Deaf (NFD) has set up a captioning working group with the aim of establishing equal access to TV and movies for deaf and hearing impaired people in this country.  A 2011 survey, “Captioning in New Zealand”, conducted by members of the group, showed the deaf and hearing impaired community felt a strong sense of injustice and frustration at the way poor TV, home video and cinema captioning denied them the simple pleasures of relaxation, entertainment and access to information and education.  Over the next 12 months the
NFD Captioning Working Group will push for legislation to make the captioning of TV programmes in New Zealand compulsory – a change favoured by 86% of the  Captioning New Zealand survey respondents.  New Zealand TV captioning is among the worst in the western world with even Uganda having a better service. While some captioning is funded by NZ On Air and a high quality captioning service is provided by TV1, TV2 and TV3 it amounts to less than 10% of total TV hours each week across all free to air and subscriber pay channels.  Captioning is about equal access for both hearing and non-hearing people. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons, ratified by New Zealand, states that all persons with disabilities should enjoy equal access to television programmes, films, theatre and cultural activities in accessible formats.  Many countries,  Australia and the USA included, have mandatory captioning legislation. We are seriously lagging behind the rest of the world and it’s time we caught up.

Members of the NFD Captioning Working Group come from t he NFD and Deaf Aotearoa.

Source: NFD press release.

Two new text books on accessible tourism are available through the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) from Channel View Publications. The first is “Concepts and Issues” (eds: Dimitrios Buhalis and Simon Darcy), which sets out to  explore and document the current theoretical approaches, foundations and issues  in the study of accessible tourism.  Professor Nigel Morgan, The Welsh Centre for Tourism Research states that this volume harnesses “the best conceptual  developments on the topic” and that it will “take accessible tourism and universal design debates into the mainstream of academic enquiryand industry practice“

The second volume is “Best Practice in Accessible Tourism” (eds: Buhalis, Darcy, and Ivor Ambrose).  It focuses on policy and best practice in accessible tourism, reflecting the ”state-of -the-art” as expressed in a selection of international chapters. It brings together global expertise in planning, design and management to inform and stimulate providers of travel, transport, accommodation, leisure and tourism services to serve guests with disabilities, seniors and the wider markets that require good accessibility. Chapter 8, written by Sandra Rhodda of Access Tourism New Zealand, describes the state of accessible tourism in this country.  Overall, the book gives ample evidence that accessible tourism organisations and destinations can expand their target markets as well as improve the quality of their service offering, leading to greater customer satisfaction, loyalty and expansion of business.  Accessible tourism is not only about providing access to people with disabilities but also it addresses the creation of universally designed environments that can support people that may have temporary disabilities, families with young children, the ever increasing ageing population as well as creating a safer environment for employees to work. Noel Scott, of the University of Queensland, Australia says that the volume “provides a ‘state-of-the-art” assessment of both theory and practice. This book establishes a new field of study and provides the benchmark against which other contributions will be judged. It integrates the work of all the key players and should be read by academics, managers and government policy makers.”

Next time you’re eating out, take note of the sound as well as the flavours.  The Acoustical Society of New Zealand is creating a rating system for the acoustic environment of cafes and restaurants in New Zealand.  The CRAI (Cafes and Restaurants Acoustic Index) rating system aims to provide people with the ability to match the type of eating experience they want with the acoustic environment.  Everyone can rate eateries they have been to.  Submitted data is analysed to give a 1–5 star rating, and there is a growing list of rated restaurants.  The CRAI rating sheet is available here and filled-in forms can be sent to the society or emailed using addresses on the form, or can be submitted online.  Feedback on the form itself is also sought.

The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) has produced a set of best practice guidelines on accessible signage with the aim of ensuring signs are readable by blind, partially sighted and deafblind people. The RNZFB is New Zealand’s main provider of essential sight-loss services, and has 11,500 members.   Every year approximately 1,200 New Zealanders become RNZFB members after experiencing serious sight loss.

The new Accessible Signage Guidelines are free to download through the RNZFB website at www.rnzfb.org.nz/signage    The guidelines provide advice and technical specifications to make sure that clear print and braille signage is accessible. RNZFB Braille Awareness Consultant, Lisette Wesseling, says an accessible sign is one that everybody can read and understand, whether they read using sight or touch. “At least 11,500 New Zealanders are blind or partially sighted and 125,000 people over 40 have significant sight loss that affects their ability to do everyday tasks like reading.

“The information conveyed by signage is important to all people, including those with sight loss. Accessible signage says ‘you are welcome!’ and ‘your safety matters’,” Lisette says.  Any sign relating to a specific function or location in a building should have an accessible sign, for example a Fire Exit, or a Lift. Signs containing a large amount of information such as menus, patient advice, and detailed operating instructions may be more effective if produced in a braille or large print booklet.

It is hoped that business and organisations take advantage of these guidelines to help improve the accessibility of their environments.

What is an accessible sign?

An accessible sign is one that everybody can read and understand, whether they read using sight or touch. An accessible sign should have:

• High colour-contrasted print which is raised on the surface of the sign plate.
• The equivalent text in braille.
• Raised pictures (pictograms) if appropriate. Pictograms alone are not enough, always use text as well.

For more information, continue reading……………

 The guidelines are based on the New Zealand Standard NZS4121:2001: Design for access and mobility: buildings and associated facilities, but they provide more specific and detailed advice on signage design.

The RNZFB worked with its members, braille professionals, Consumer Organisations and other stakeholders to research and develop the guidelines, which have been endorsed by the Braille Authority of New Zealand Aotearoa Trust, the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand and the Guide Dog Society of New Zealand

For more information:

Rozz Macdonald, Communications Advisor, 09 355 6891 or comms@rnzfb.org.nz

Lisette Wesseling, Braille Awareness Consultant, 04 380 2139 or lwesseling@rnzfb.org.nz

While the existing official Tourism New Zealand site engages visitors with imagery and contains lots of “content”, it does not engage all of the senses for people, or accommodate people with disabilities the way it could.  On the NZ site, a visually disabled person would probably need to use their screen reader to access the text information. A baby boomer might need a magnifying glass to be able to read the text.   Most screen readers sound like a computer voice and are OK for accessing data but don’t provide the best experience. People don’t talk to people that way. Seems like a fabulous destination like NZ would be promoted in the most engaging and human way possible.

To show what could be achieved in making the website accessible to all, we created a demonstration New Zealand tourism multimedia presentation (demonstration only)to show how people with disabilities (and everyone else) can start their NZ experience when they go to our online presentation rather than when they arrive in NZ.   With our presentation they can hear the human voice describing a full screen scene with pleasant background music and see large type as another option.

On the NZ site a hearing impaired person would probably have no problem reading all of the information. If they go to the YouTube channel or watch videos on the site however there is no closed captioning of those videos.

With our presentation they can see the motion of the full screen presentation with access to large type with the click of a mouse, the press of the “T” key on their keyboard or the press of a large button on a mobile/touch screen device. Our presentation provides the interactivity and information of a website with the motion and audio of video.

The NZ site is geared, as most sites are, toward visitors using a mouse to navigate the site with standard buttons and links.   A physically disabled person may have difficulties using a mouse. Our presentations can be accessed with a mouse but also with the press of a key on a keyboard or one of our large buttons on a touch screen.

A person with ADD or Dyslexia has problems with focus. Too much copy and text can make it difficult for them to absorb information. Our human audio narrated presentations eliminate the need for a lot of copy and text that has to be read by people with these types of disabilities.

The NZ site is designed for browser viewing and is severely compromised on a mobile device. To remedy this, there would need to be a separate application developed or a site redesign with mobile in mind.  Our presentations function exactly the same on a mobile device as they do on a browser (device must be Flash enabled).   No need for a separate application.

While the NZ site is innovative in certain ways it is very typical, and even trendy, in others.   The larger images are the best feature; a place as beautiful as NZ should certainly be highlighted in this way.   However there is obvious pandering to the popularity of the social media trend. The option for people to write and edit articles is an obvious attempt to leverage this trend. Not surprisingly – as of July 2011 – there are seemingly few visitor articles and no “likes” or “tweets”. If a visitor does wish to write an article they are required to set up an account and/or login in order to do so. In doing this social media functionality they are contributing to the over- abundance and glut of data instead of focusing on making the visitor’s experience the best it can possibly be. It does not seem likely that someone considering a trip or move to NZ would come to this site, create an account and write an article. Time will tell…

Our presentations can include social media “gadgets” below the presentation so that people can leave comments and provide their input if desired.

The best of both worlds would be an augmentation of the NZ site with the types of presentations we create. Any of the existing presentations on the NZ site could be augmented with “click here for the access-enhanced, multimedia version of this presentation”. When clicked the visitor would be taken to one of our presentations for that topic. Able-bodied visitors would still be able to use all of the features of the existing NZ site and the disabled and baby boomers could access the benefits of a more experiential version of the page. It would also show a definitive commitment by NZ to accommodating people with disabilities and older visitors.

For information about Chris and how to contact him, and for other demonstrations, see here.

A report on Australian Baby Boomers in the May issue of the Australian Financial Review found that:

• 31% expect to retire in the next five years
• About the same percent will retire in the five years after that
• The average age on retirement will be 64
• The average Boomer will retire with A$100,000 today; $250,000 at the tail end of the Boomer generation
• 5.5 million Boomers will eventually control almost A$1 trillion plus
• Having weathered the recent recession, Boomers plan to spend their money and not leave it to their children – only 10% said they would bequeath as much as possible
• The number one thing they want to spend on is travel, followed by family, home improvement, then entertainment and restaurants

Australia is New Zealand’s most important tourism market, so it would behove us to take note of these findings.  The ageing of the population is not of course confined to Australia but is happening in other markets important to New Zealand tourism in both developed nations such as the United Kingdom and developing markets, such as China and countries of South America.   It is also happening here in New Zealand.  And population ageing is beginning to show up in tourism statistics.  Figures show that the percentage of international visitors to New Zealand who are 45 years old or older has been steadily rising in the last ten years from 40% in 2001 to 42% in 2010. Domestically,  the percentage of Kiwis who are 45 years of age or older visiting regions in New Zealand has increased over the last several years .  A 2010 survey by the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute of Auckland University of Technology of visitors to the Puhoi to Pakiri region north of
Auckland city shows that 52% are 45 or older.    New Zealand currently focuses on attracting younger visitors.  However, we need to focus more on attracting the older market sector if tourism is to be sustainable in future.

An event held during New Zealand Sign Language Week (May 2-8) has highlighted the fact that more deaf people would more often attend sign language interpretation of art in galleries if it was on offer. So says NZ Sign Language interpreter Brydee Jenkins Strang.  The Dunedin Public Art Gallery (DPAG) held a tour of the Beloved collection last Sunday, with Strang translating guide Eryn van Dijk’s discussion. This tour was the only interpreted gallery tour in New Zealand for Sign Language (NZSL) Week, and was the second time it was run. The Beloved collection shows popular works in the DPAG collection such as pieces by New Zealanders  Colin McCahon and Reuben Paterson, and by Claude Monet.  Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ) community relations officer Jenna Holland attended the tour, and said deaf attendees enjoyed the event and would like more translated events. “Deaf community members like visualising and describing things,” said Holland.  She would like to see an exhibition of work by deaf artists with a related workshop to introduce people to sign language and the deaf arts community.  DANZ focuses on promoting awareness of, access to, and advancement of NZSL and provides information and resources on D/deaf New Zealanders, and D/deaf culture.  DANZ held a workshop on sign language for
gallery staff during Sign Language Week. NZSL is NZ’a third official language –
the other two are English and Maori.

DPAG visitor host Rosemary Jackson-Hunter said the gallery would like to hold more events like the interpreted tour. “We are considering doing something for people with impaired sight,” said Jackson-Hunter .

A search of the DPAG website reveals that there is no information about access to the gallery for people with any type of disability, and no way to search for such information on the website.  While a few other galleries (and museums) in New Zealand do have such information, an extensive search for disabled access at other galleries and museums throughout New Zealand shows that their websites lack access information about their premises.

The newly released New Zealand Regional Visitor Monitor (NZRVM) shows that the percentage of  domestic visitors who are 45 years of age or older visiting regions in New Zealand has increased over the last several years.  To the year ended March 2011, that percentage was 44%.  The percentage of international visitors 45 or older has remained fairly stable at around 29-32%.  But this percentage is bound to increase as Baby Boomers retire and begin to travel more.  The NZRVM also shows that for both domestic and international visitors, to “Challenge and Test Myself” is not a high motivator to visit, but New Zealand still promotes itself as an adrenalin destination.  Nothing wrong with that, but we should balance that out by looking at who our visitors  actually are and who they will be in the future.  There are very few grey hairs in New Zealand tourism advertising.   Hopefully the New Zealand tourism sector will take note of actual trends and begin to include older people in planning and advertising, as advocated by Access Tourism New Zealand many times before (most recently, here).

Meanwhile, in the USA, mainstream USA marketers are  working to target people over 45 – territory they previously left untended.  Why? There are more Americans aged 51 today than any other age, the average Baby Boomer is now 54, and the largest group of Boomers is aged 50-55.