I was recently invited to attend an Accessible Season Announcement and Inclusive Celebration at the Overture Center. I was extremely excited to attend as I have been working with this performing arts center in increasing their accessibility for people with hearing loss by adding captioned performances. It was a wonderful night.

I don’t know if these sorts of events are frequently offered at other businesses, but I had never attended a similar event. It was really special because it was very clear that a lot of thought, intention, and work went into making the event as accessible as possible for people of varying abilities. When you identify as a person with a disability, it often feels like your needs are a problem or your access is an afterthought. This event was really great because I felt not only like I could attend but that I was wanted.

Many people from the community attended the event, representing a wide range of abilities and accommodations needed. They also had quite a bit of Overture staff attending the event and learning about the accessible offerings. I loved that so many staff were there to see both the options that exist as well as meet the people who will benefit from the labor of offering those accommodations.

I also loved that they had all of their accessibility features functional that evening so that people could try them out. Going into a new business can be daunting when you aren’t sure how the access will work. It can also take a bunch of time to get everything set up. When I attend shows, I often spend several minutes getting my technology all set up in the fashion that supports my hearing loss needs for that particular event. It can be challenging to do before the show, either from time constraints or because they don’t have sound going over the hearing loop system yet so I can’t tell if their hearing loop is actually working or perhaps is too loud. At this event, I was able to test all of the different hearing accommodations. I downloaded what I needed on my phone for their closed captioning as well as for enhanced listening and I was able to test both. You could also test the assistive listening devices. Hopefully this will mean my next performance goes extra smoothly as my phone will already have the settings memorized.

I’ve talked a lot about captions for musicals, which you can read more about here: https://luckybraintumor.com/2025/08/07/captioning-live-theatre/. For non musicals, I also really like using the telecoil in my hearing device with a hearing loop to be able to have the sound system audio sent directly to my hearing aid. Now the Overture is also offering enhanced listening for people to be able to have audio similar to the hearing loop but instead use headphones. It sends the sound system audio to your phone and then headphones. I am excited to try this feature out with my Yuni headphones, which create a stereo hearing experience for single sided deaf people like me. If it works as I suspect it may, I will be able to listen to live music in stereo for the first time in more than a decade by using the enhanced listening system combined with my Yuni headphones. https://luckybraintumor.com/2024/07/11/single-sided-deaf-stereo-headphones-my-review-of-yuni-headphones/

Obviously, the Overture Center is a business and ultimately needs to sell tickets to events. I am just so very impressed by their passion and commitment to helping as many people as possible experience theater. As someone who loves theater, I am so very glad for initiatives like these that help me continue to do what I love regardless of my disability. I have loved working with the Overture, and I really hope other businesses follow in their footsteps. As a small business owner myself, I definitely understand the limitations of funds and practical concerns, but I love when we move to including everyone we can. I truly believe that by offering captions and other accessible options the business will benefit by increasing their customer base.