In this article, deaf is used as an umbrella term to include Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing-impaired, deafened and people with hearing loss.

Theatre and cinemas are increasingly lauding their commitment to access and diversity; yet deaf people are still excluded from most performances and films.

Many theatre performances are not captioned or British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted and if they are, theatres typically offer one captioned and one interpreted show in a run, regardless of the number of performances.

Most films are distributed with caption tracks, but cinemas, on average, caption only 1% of all showings. This is despite statistics showing that in the UK, one in seven people – approximately 14% of the population – are deaf or have hearing loss.

This is not meaningful inclusion; it is managed exclusion and amounts to what is termed “deafwashing”.

This article is part of our State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.

As a deaf/deafened researcher, a lifelong theatregoer and amateur performer, I have spent years watching accessibility being treated as a specialist add-on rather than an integral part of arts and culture. Theatre was once one of the places where I felt most connected to the wider world. Now, however, access barriers have made participation almost impossible, transforming what should be a positive social........

© The Conversation