Access for visually impaired audiences doesn’t need to break the budget

At Extant, we are often approached by artists keen to make their work accessible to visually impaired audiences, but commonly they feel blocked by lack of knowledge, time and resources. We know that for many artists, particularly those working at fringe level, these can be difficult challenges to overcome. However, there are some simple, DIY techniques that artists can use to open up the accessibility of their work. In fact, Extant is working with ZOO and Fringe Society to bring these techniques to artists presenting work at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in summer 2025, to help make this year’s Fringe the most accessible yet for visually impaired audiences!

In order to help artists make informed decisions about what’s possible for their work, Extant have developed a ladder of access document listing different ways to make a show accessible for visually impaired people, which is being distributed directly to artists via ZOO and Fringe Society. The ladder ranges from simple ‘DIY’ options that artists can achieve themselves, to more comprehensive adaptations like integrated and creative audio description – and we’ve included some guidelines below on how to create your own self-description and audio introduction.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 will be a great opportunity to experience the different access levels in action. Headlining ZOO’s accessible programme for the festival will be three shows featuring Extant Enhance, a pioneering programme that augments performances for visually impaired audiences, providing low-fi interventions of live programme notes and creative touch tours, presented by the theatre company one hour before the performance. And over at Underbelly, Extant’s former Associate Artist, Jasmine Thien, is presenting ‘I Dream in Colour’, which will incorporate creative audio description throughout, and was created with support by Extant.

If you’d like more detail about incorporating visually impaired access into your work, Extant are running an ‘Open House on Access’ drop-in session in partnership with VICS and ZOO, from 11am-1pm on Wednesday 13 August at ZOO Southside Cab Bar. Please do come along to meet the team and discuss issues around accessibility!

 

How to create a self-description

Self-description is a type of audio description where an individual vocalises their own visual appearance. Sighted people take in a lot of information visually when meeting people, so providing self-description helps level the playing field for visually impaired people, and makes it easier to identify individuals, particularly in a group setting.

Self-description is about providing visual information about yourself, so it’s important to be concise and specific in your language. It should be given in the first person, for example: “I am a white woman who wears glasses, with long dark brown hair.” Remember, it’s important not to overload someone with information, just one or two simple sentences about your physical characteristics and clothing will suffice.

Often, we might feel self-conscious about our own appearance and attempt to deflect through humour or vague language. It’s ok to describe yourself in a way that gives a flavour of your personality and style (personally I regularly describe my Irish complexion as ‘vampirically pale’) – however, remember that when you make it into a joke and give fictitious information about yourself because you feel awkward and want people to laugh, the only one who isn’t part of that joke are the visually impaired people in the room.

 

How to create an audio introduction

An audio introduction is a summary of visual information about your show, which can be delivered to the audience before they attend the performance, either live or more often pre-recorded. Audio introductions usually last between 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the complexity of the show, and describe elements including the staging, performers, costumes, and any key movement or visual themes.

In order to create an audio introduction for your show, the first thing to do is consider what you already know about the visual elements of the performance in order to help you write a script. You will have made creative choices about costumes, props and staging, and can use all of this existing knowledge to help you write the audio introduction.

It helps to follow a logical structure to help the audience follow and build up a picture of the show, for example you might structure your script as follows:

• Introduction: introduce the name of your show, and give any key information such as setting or genre.
• The theatre & stage: what kind of space is the performance taking place in, the stage dimensions, audience configuration, entrance and exit points.
• Character and costume descriptions: how many actors are there, what do they wear, do they play the same role throughout or is there multi-rolling?
• Staging, scenery and props: what does the stage look like, what objects do the characters interact with, and are there any other visual staging elements like video or film used in the show?
• Dance, movement sections and visual set-pieces: try to include a description of any sections that rely on visual cues and are not verbally explained within the performance. It can help to link these to sounds cues, such as the style of dancing carried out when a particular piece of music plays, or let the audience know that a particular image appears when the performer mentions a key phrase.

Remember that one of the main goals of any audio description is to help visually impaired audiences experience the show on an equitable footing with sighted audiences. Think about any moments in your show where the sighted audience will have a ‘gotcha’ moment, such as visual gags, and try to include these in your audio introduction if possible. There’s nothing worse for a visually impaired audience member than feeling left out of the joke when everyone around you is laughing at a funny visual.

You might also want to warn the audience about any interaction or use of gunshots, pyrotechnics etc., so they can be mentally prepared. Remember that things like bright lights shone directly into the audience can trigger certain visual impairments so it’s good to warn people of anything that might adversely affect them.

Once your script is written, you should record it – ideally get your performers to perform it in character so the audience becomes familiar with the real voices used in the show. Then the final step is to distribute the recording to audience members. Your venue should be able to assist you by embedding the audio introduction on their venue/show booking page and/or emailing it out to as a reminder to everyone who has pre-booked for the show. It’s a good idea to create a QR code and have this available on the door for any audience members who book last-minute to listen to while they queue to be seated.

You can listen to an example of a pre-recorded audio introduction here, created by me for ‘You’re SO F***ing Croydon!’ by Katie Hurley, which ran at Underbelly during last year’s Edinburgh Fringe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2NVmSNMKY&t=27s

If you’d like to speak to the Extant team about access provision for your show, please contact [email protected]

Louisa Sanfey, Artist Development Manager, June 2025