Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2022 - 18

basic practices changing. More people
with disabilities are considering technical
theatre careers as more become
available to them. "
" As a person with a disability, I know
what I can and can't do, " adds Brian
Sechrist, a Sacramento-based freelance
lighting and sound designer. " I have a
degenerative disc disease in my back,
asthma, and arthritis. It's a constant
pain I go through every day. I don't want
to be sitting on the sidelines; I want to
be helpful. My hands have gotten weaker
from arthritis, so I can't trust myself
holding counterweights for long periods
of time. Being a designer, I don't have to
do as much climbing, but I'd love to. I'm
usually lucky enough to send someone
else up there [to lighting positions]. I
don't think I've ever had a time when I
walked in and thought, 'I can't do this.'
Generally, there's not an accessibility
issue other than climbing ladders. "
When asked what accommodations he
does appreciate, he notes only the need
to sometimes take a seat and take a
breath.
" When I got out of the military they
said, 'you're disabled.' No, I'm not. I
don't like labeling myself. If you say I'm
a disabled person, you're going to think
I can't do anything. I want to go into a
space and say what I can and can't do.
For a person who is disabled, going to
" Ask the
student, 'what
do you think we
need to do?' "
-Vanessa Goepel, director of the
Office of Disability Services at The
University of Alabama
For More Information
ADA Regulations
https://www.ada.gov/
Job Accommodation Network
https://askjan.org/
ADA National Network
https://adata.org/
CDC Disability and Health resources
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/
Kennedy Center's Leadership Exchange in Arts and
Disability network
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/networks-conferenc
es-and-research/conferences-and-events/lead-conference
University of Washington's Disabilities, Opportunities,
Internetworking, and Technology organization (DO-IT) guidance
on Universal Design
https://www.washington.edu/doit/
North Carolina State University's Center for Universal Design
https://projects.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/
Disability Arts Online
https://disabilityarts.online/
National Endowment for the Arts accessibility resources
https://www.arts.gov/impact/accessibility/publicationschecklists-and-resources
TheatreCrafts.com
accessibility resources
https://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/
accessible-theatre/
HowlRound article The Importance of Including
Disabled Designers
https://howlround.com/importance-including-disabled-designers
American Theatre article Act on Accessibility
https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/10/23/act-on-accessibility/
the [supervisor] and saying what you
can do and can't do is huge, " Sechrist
says. Particularly tricky for Sechrist is
the fact that his disability is not visibly
apparent. " Disability is not a subject
that is broached by a lot of people. It's
a double-edged sword: You want to explain
yourself but don't want to compromise
[your colleagues'] ability to trust
you. "
As Sechrist demonstrates, all disabilities
are not as visible as a folding
cane or wheelchair. " Most people
think of the mobility-impaired, visionimpaired,
or hearing-impaired, but the
big four disabilities we see the most are
ADHD, learning disorders, behavioral
disorders, and, to a lesser extent, medical
disabilities, " says Vanessa Goepel,
director of the Office of Disability
Services at The University of Alabama.
Most behavioral disorders manifest
between 16 and 25, so students with
anxiety, depression, and occasionally
narcolepsy or Tourette's come to ODS
for assistance. While there are users of
wheelchairs and permanent crutches
(such as for cerebral palsy) or those
with fluctuating mobility (multiple sclerosis,
Parkinson's disease), most medical
disability requests are connected
to low fatigue threshold, bad back, bad
knees, bad feet, bad surgeries, degenerative
bones, or rheumatoid arthritis.
18 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | WINTER 2022

https://www.ada.gov/ https://projects.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/ https://www.askjan.org/ https://www.disabilityarts.online/ https://www.adata.org/ https://www.arts.gov/impact/accessibility/publications-checklists-and-resources https://www.arts.gov/impact/accessibility/publications-checklists-and-resources https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/ http://www.TheatreCrafts.com https://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/accessible-theatre/ https://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/accessible-theatre/ https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/networks-conferences-and-research/conferences-and-events/lead-conference https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/networks-conferences-and-research/conferences-and-events/lead-conference https://www.howlround.com/importance-including-disabled-designers https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/10/23/act-on-accessibility/ https://www.washington.edu/doit/

Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2022

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