Continuing the series of Dufferin Trails videos we are highlighting the diversity of businesses in Dufferin County. Business owners are committed to being an accessible space. These barrier-free businesses ensure tourists can comfortability experience their space.The project aims to attract more locals and visitors to discover our niche markets so that they can spend more time and money in the region, growing community pride and increasing the visitor economy.
Our team enjoyed making this film for the DBOT The Dufferin Board of Trade. You can learn more about the work we do in the Tourism and Economic Development sectors here.
Full video transcript:
Our mission at Theatre Orangeville is to provide opportunity and celebrate ability within this community. We’ve been providing inclusive programing for over 20 years now. We’re telling stories that are of a broader cultural and inclusive kind of nature. And our stories that we tell on this stage need to reflect who and what our community is. We work with the town in order to make sure that this facility is 100% accessible. We have a brand new wheelchair ramp that comes right in off Broadway into the magnificent structure. We have several other entrances to the building that are fully accessible. We have an elevator. We are on the second floor. All of the seating here, seats can be removed to accommodate chairs, transfer points that some of the arms swing open. So it’s a little easier for a transfer. And we also have our recently installed world class hearing system. We actually partner with Theatre Orangeville often. They have sent instructors to our programs to be able to do accessible drama. And we also partner with them through their Creative Partners on Stage program. We share a number of clients that participate in our programs and theirs… and it’s a easy way for us to be supportive of each other. I’ve seen the theater be so open and accepting and they’re programing that is inclusive of people with neurodiversities… I’ve never seen programing like that anywhere else in the province. Every year on this stage we create a brand new play and a brand new musical with two different acting companies from Community Living Dufferin. Anybody in the community can walk downstage center and say something about who they are. That can be shared with others. And I think that’s the most magnificent opportunity that we can provide anyone With the relaxed performances we want to be able to provide an environment that that everybody feels comfortable coming into. The lights stay on a little bit. We might just turn down the sound cues. The doors remain open so that if people feel in the middle of the show that they want to get up and if they feel the need to go into another space and when they feel comfortable, come back. We want to provide all those opportunities because this is a community facility. It’s really important that everyone in this community should have access to this wonderful theater. We work with a number of other organizations that we would consider to be welcoming and safe for people who have neurodiversities. Certainly, our local libraries have done an amazing job at educating themselves and being open at making libraries community hubs. The food bank is a very safe space. We’ve developed relationships with our local conservation areas. A number of our adults volunteer at all of these spaces. And we are also going into some of those organizations and training them. So we are starting to see and get invitations to come do advocacy and education. And we know if people are reaching out that they’re interested in making their spaces safer. We want everyone to enjoy who and what we are. We want to make it accessible on all levels while telling great stories to the world.