Specific Access Needs
Here's how we aim to provide for specific access needs.
Language
We generally communicate in English and British Sign language, but can provide translators for most languages at live events with enough notice. Accessible spaces
We will always use physical spaces that are accessible for wheelchair users, and ideally venues which have Changing Places facilities. British Sign Language
At live events, we aim to have a minimum of four BSL interpreters present at every performance. If no-one requires interpretation, they will do some signing as part of their characters, or for other characters, so BSL is always present. In this way, we're always prepared for at least two people who need interpretation, and we give some support to those who find aural processing challenging. Each person or performer who requires an interpreter is accompanied throughout by two personal BSL interpreters at live events. On Zoom, two interpreters are present for the main space, and two each for any secondary spaces. Live transcription
All of our online video events will have live transcribing. Descriptive spaces
Some spaces will simply be descriptive of the world, both text and/or audio. Environmental soundtracks and playlists will be available, and can be added to by players. Audio description
Professional performers who take part in live events will be given training in how to incorporate audio description into improvisation. In addition to this, two personal audio transcribers will accompany anyone with this access need, and they will discuss personal preferences about what can most usefully be described about the people and the process. Touch and scent enhancement
Involvement in live events can have touch and scent enhancement, giving opportunity for greater tactile and olfactory engagement to anyone who would like that experience. This can also be arranged for involvement at a distance. Auditory Processing Our process embraces the sounds of our community. Where that makes it more challenging for some to identify sound, repetition is welcome and encouraged. Quiet space
A quiet, sensory space in a venue, or a quiet channel in digital access, will be available for those who feel overstimulated. At live events, ear defenders can be provided for those who need some distance from sound in noisy spaces. Neurodivergence / ASD / ADHD
Much of our access and support was designed with neurodivergence in mind. If you have a particular access need and are comfortable sharing it with us, we will always try to accommodate you individually and uniquely. Mental health access support
Roleplay can be an emotional thing to be involved in. We will always have a mental health first aider onsite at live events, and we encourage all participants to have the support of an Accompanist in some form: bring someone you trust with you, or at least have a connection to someone you can contact if you need some support that is more personal than the informal and limited support that players can give each other. On digital platforms, we cannot provide mental health first aid. Players are strongly advised to consider people they would normally reach out to for mental health support in their lives, and let that person know about the game, and any support they may be able to give. There is an article about content and trigger warnings, and you can let your Accompanist and/or fellow players know how to help if you have specific triggers and unexpectedly encounter them. Obviously, this game is improvised and we cannot predict what players will include in play, but we can certainly all try to be aware of anything in particular, and how best to offer support if it does happen. Accompanying
You can be Accompanied by someone throughout your involvement with the work. For more on that, see the article on Accompanying. Access to Information
We welcome players knowing everything about the story/world up front if they want to, and even being part of the forward plotting. This information can be found by asking in the #chat-and-questions channel on Discord, direct messaging one of the channel admins, or contacting Jenifer Toksvig on Twitter. See the article on how we roleplay for more on this. Conflict of Access Requirements
Where you feel a conflict of access requirements (eg: someone is moving and you find it distracting on camera, or someone needs more time to write a post and it's frustrating you), we invite you to practice self-care and do whatever you need to do to get comfy again. That might be about communicating, or just making a change to your situation. Replays
Whole interactions can be repeated for clarity, or even to change them for a different version we prefer, for any reason. There is no right way. We are collectively making it up as we go along. There is no set story outcome, just a community with relationships and traditions, who are trying to get by. We want to see what happens, depending on who joins us. We believe that whoever comes to join us are the right people to be there, and that whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened, including the awkward things: we embrace those too.
We generally communicate in English and British Sign language, but can provide translators for most languages at live events with enough notice. Accessible spaces
We will always use physical spaces that are accessible for wheelchair users, and ideally venues which have Changing Places facilities. British Sign Language
At live events, we aim to have a minimum of four BSL interpreters present at every performance. If no-one requires interpretation, they will do some signing as part of their characters, or for other characters, so BSL is always present. In this way, we're always prepared for at least two people who need interpretation, and we give some support to those who find aural processing challenging. Each person or performer who requires an interpreter is accompanied throughout by two personal BSL interpreters at live events. On Zoom, two interpreters are present for the main space, and two each for any secondary spaces. Live transcription
All of our online video events will have live transcribing. Descriptive spaces
Some spaces will simply be descriptive of the world, both text and/or audio. Environmental soundtracks and playlists will be available, and can be added to by players. Audio description
Professional performers who take part in live events will be given training in how to incorporate audio description into improvisation. In addition to this, two personal audio transcribers will accompany anyone with this access need, and they will discuss personal preferences about what can most usefully be described about the people and the process. Touch and scent enhancement
Involvement in live events can have touch and scent enhancement, giving opportunity for greater tactile and olfactory engagement to anyone who would like that experience. This can also be arranged for involvement at a distance. Auditory Processing Our process embraces the sounds of our community. Where that makes it more challenging for some to identify sound, repetition is welcome and encouraged. Quiet space
A quiet, sensory space in a venue, or a quiet channel in digital access, will be available for those who feel overstimulated. At live events, ear defenders can be provided for those who need some distance from sound in noisy spaces. Neurodivergence / ASD / ADHD
Much of our access and support was designed with neurodivergence in mind. If you have a particular access need and are comfortable sharing it with us, we will always try to accommodate you individually and uniquely. Mental health access support
Roleplay can be an emotional thing to be involved in. We will always have a mental health first aider onsite at live events, and we encourage all participants to have the support of an Accompanist in some form: bring someone you trust with you, or at least have a connection to someone you can contact if you need some support that is more personal than the informal and limited support that players can give each other. On digital platforms, we cannot provide mental health first aid. Players are strongly advised to consider people they would normally reach out to for mental health support in their lives, and let that person know about the game, and any support they may be able to give. There is an article about content and trigger warnings, and you can let your Accompanist and/or fellow players know how to help if you have specific triggers and unexpectedly encounter them. Obviously, this game is improvised and we cannot predict what players will include in play, but we can certainly all try to be aware of anything in particular, and how best to offer support if it does happen. Accompanying
You can be Accompanied by someone throughout your involvement with the work. For more on that, see the article on Accompanying. Access to Information
We welcome players knowing everything about the story/world up front if they want to, and even being part of the forward plotting. This information can be found by asking in the #chat-and-questions channel on Discord, direct messaging one of the channel admins, or contacting Jenifer Toksvig on Twitter. See the article on how we roleplay for more on this. Conflict of Access Requirements
Where you feel a conflict of access requirements (eg: someone is moving and you find it distracting on camera, or someone needs more time to write a post and it's frustrating you), we invite you to practice self-care and do whatever you need to do to get comfy again. That might be about communicating, or just making a change to your situation. Replays
Whole interactions can be repeated for clarity, or even to change them for a different version we prefer, for any reason. There is no right way. We are collectively making it up as we go along. There is no set story outcome, just a community with relationships and traditions, who are trying to get by. We want to see what happens, depending on who joins us. We believe that whoever comes to join us are the right people to be there, and that whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened, including the awkward things: we embrace those too.
Contact
>>#chat-and-questions Discord channel
>>Jenifer Toksvig on Twitter
The Access Accord
"To come to an accord..."Supported Space
Open Space Technology
Permissions
Specific Access Needs
Comfortable
Blog post: comfortable, uncomfortable
How to join us
The Copenhagen Interpretation
This is still (always) in development, but we intend to provide this information in other accessible formats
This is The Copenhagen Interpretation of an Access Accord v5. This draft is dated 17th April 2022, developed for ADHD-inclusive digital platform usage for The Broad Cloth R&D 2022, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The contents of this draft have been shaped by Jenifer Toksvig for The Copenhagen Interpretation with support from the ADHD Hive (Marie Moran, Claire Stewart, Ross Watt), Ellen Armstrong, David Bellwood, Martyn Blunt, Chloe Coleman, Diana Miranda, Flo O’Mahoney, Wendy O’Mahoney, Chloe Mashiter, Laurie Ogden, Erika O’Reilly, Teatro Vivo (Kas Darley, Mark Stevenson), Zoo Co, and pets, as well as those who came to play with us on Zoom and Discord during the 2022 R&D, in particular Mark Aspinall, Solomon Foster, Rachel Hebert, Lorena Hodgson, Amy Ledin, Sue Lee, Beatrix Livesey-Stephens, and Jennifer Lunn. Some of this process has been inspired by, or directly uses processes from, other people including Harrison Owen's Open Space Technology, and Kit Whitfield Thomas's observation that, when you have ADHD and you speak while someone else is speaking, you're not interrupting them, you're harmonising with them. Others who have inspired these things include FFRPG writers Debra Phillips, Kate Sinclair, and Jamison Yager, and theatre makers Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson of Improbable, and Alan Lane of Slung Low. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Everyone is free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format), and/or adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose, even commercially. If you use it and can let us know, you will be supporting our future fundraising work – thank you.
