Access Accord v6

   

Why 'accord'?

Everyone who gets involved with our work will do so in a unique way. Not just unique to them, but also unique to that moment of time in that specific space.   Some things can be planned for in advance, but a need for support or reassurance might also arise unexpectedly. The aim is for everyone to feel welcome and comfortable enough to communicate their needs and have an awareness of the needs of others - not just beforehand but also whilst involved.   That sense of welcome often goes against the life experience of those who have access and support needs. We've found this can be especially true when it comes to neurodiversity, so The Copenhagen Interpretation is designed to be particularly accessible for neurodiverse audiences. A lifetime of masking might have protected us from harm, but it might also have prevented us from seeking out or accepting support, even where it's offered. We might not even be aware of the places and ways in which we could do with some support.   Access needs don't begin and end with the provision of one “accessible” performance, and besides, involvement with The Copenhagen Interpretation's projects will never be an invitation to attend a single performance. The name The Copenhagen Interpretation was chosen to represent our goal of responding to the fact that we are all different in every unique moment.   So instead of imposing a one-size-fits-all support system, we work with you and each other to be responsive in the best way we can, in the moment. Hence: we come to a unique accord.    

Our goal

Our goal for the work is to hold a space around the individual in which they can choose to do some self-exploration around what support they need to feel comfortable. We aim to make that environment be:

• accessible: anyone should have at least one way they can comfortably get involved
• supported: the environment itself (the place, the platform, and the storytelling process) should be understandable and feel as reliable as possible
• responsive: so the experience can be changed by the participation, as much as the participants can be changed by the experience

How individuals get involved within that environment can then be more of their choosing.    

We all do what we can

As organisers, we will make provision for the most commonly required support needs, for example sign language interpreters and wheelchair accessible spaces. We are ultimately responsible for everyone’s safety whilst they participate in our project, and we care about everyone’s comfort. Our goal of being fully responsive will always be limited by our resources: there are some things we cannot offer, and some we are not best placed to offer.   As participants, there are times when we can’t, or don’t want to be responding to others, but there is an invitation to act in consideration of ourselves and others. Where our own comfort levels will allow, how we react to each other can be a welcome gesture of consideration or support, and our Access Accord is very much about having a collective experience in consideration of each other.    

D'accord

This is why we offer an accord - as a group of both organisers and participants, we can support each other in more and better ways than as a top-down, organiser-led, pre-arranged structure. This enables everyone to be more responsive, flexible and creative with access support.    

How it works

One of the biggest access and support challenges is understanding what is needed in the first place. To start considering what your personal access accord might be, we provide:

• these connected articles about access and support
• a team with a diversity of access and support requirements, so it's likely at least one of us will have a greater understanding
• the time and space we make for access and support before we begin, and throughout the experience - and afterwards too

This is a living, responsive document. We'll keep changing it, adding to it, growing it as we make new discoveries about access and support.    

Creative Commons

This page is part of The Copenhagen Interpretation of an Access Accord v6. This draft is dated 14th December 2023. The Access Accord 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, with acknowledgement wherever possible that this was the original source. If you use it and can let us know, you will be supporting our future fundraising work – thank you.