Accessibility Policy
Passer Vulpes Productions is committed to making our work and our productions as accessible as possible. We come from a background in disability arts, and we take everything we learned and fought for there with us into the present and future.
As one of our founders, Erin Kyan, is a severely disabled person, obviously accessibility is incredibly important in everything we do! We do not limit our accessibility commitment to our audience; we work to make sure that working with us is possible and a positive experience for creators as well.
Our accessibility policy is a living document and policy. We will update and change it as required, always pushing forward to make sure we are doing our best.
Our Access Values
We promise to put thought and planning into our accessibility, and to work to implement as many access accommodations as we can into our shows, and into our entire production development process. Where an access need has not been met and is brought to our attention, we promise to do our best to meet that need, and build the planning for that need into the future of our work.
We know that accessibility is not as simple as a checklist, it is an ongoing relationship between disabled people and what they are trying to access. As we are the caretakers of that relationship between disabled people and our shows and productions, we do our best to try and implement our work in such a way that it is more accessible to more people from the beginning; however we know that between competing access needs and specific access needs, we cannot cover everything. We want you to know that we want to work with you to make it easier for you to access our shows and productions.
It is our responsibility as creators to work with our teams and audience to find the best forms of access for everyone. We take this very seriously, and we welcome access requests from our audience and team members.
Our Shows
Our Audio
Our audio will always be exported in mono. If in future we branch out to binaural audio, we will also export a mono version as an alternative.
Our audio editing and mixing will always be done in a way to emphasise clarity and avoid harsh sounds. Where harsh sound may be intentionally desired for effect, it will still be softened as much as possible, and a content warning will be available on the website for the audio in question.
We will always master our audio to avoid too much difference between quiet and loud volumes, especially in such cases where a change of volume may be jarring.
We will always have versions of our audio available as videos with hand coded captions.
Our videos will never include strobing or flashing lights.
We will always have transcripts available of our audio on our websites.
Our Websites
We will always do our best to have websites that are as accessible as we can possibly make them within our skills; we specifically use Squarespace as our host, as Squarespace is much better for screen readers than most other consumer website builders.
We will check our websites in the WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool regularly, and work to fix any issues that are identified if we at all can.
Our episodes will always be available to listen to directly from each show’s website.
We will always have links to common apps and directly to the RSS feed for each show available via its website’s main page.
Our websites will always have a way to contact us that is easily findable from the main menu.
Our websites will always have links to transcripts and captions for episodes.
Our Live Events
We will only ever hold live events in wheelchair accessible venues, with wheelchair accessible toilets.
We will never have strobe lighting at any of our events.
Where we are playing pre-recorded audio or video, we will always have open captions.
Where the content of our event is a live performance without captions, we will always have sign language interpreters.
We will always make the content of our events available online; in the case of launch parties, this is as simple as the show itself being available. Where the content of our show may be live performance, we will make sure to record it and make it available to people online who may not be able to attend in person.
Our Content
We will always try to include relevant content warnings on episodes. We know that triggers are too wide and varied to be able to warn for all of them, but we will do our best to warn for any of the more common types of content that may be upsetting.
Our Productions
We love working with disabled creators and we love having disabled people as a part of our production teams. It is our commitment to make working with us as accessible as possible, and if there is not already an access need cared for, we promise to work with you to find a way to make our work accessible to you.
Our Recording Setups
Where we are using recording studios, we will only use wheelchair accessible studios, and we will always make sure there is seating available for anyone who needs it.
We will always give clear directions to find the studio, make sure our team members have the ability to contact us, and will happily meet people out the front to help them inside if needed.
We have a travel subsidy available for any of our collaborators who may need assistance to cover the financial cost of attending in person parts of production.
Where we are using a portable recording system, we can travel to our performers anywhere in Victoria and record them in their own home. This is especially important for any performers who may be house or bed bound.
Support workers are welcome in our recording spaces; we are grateful for the work they do to support our team members and will treat them kindly.
Service animals are of course welcome in our recording and rehearsal spaces. We will also do our best to make sure your service animal is not distracted or stressed in our company.
We welcome our actors to perform while in whatever position is most comfortable for them. We will work to make sure their mic placement works for their position, rather than trying to force them into a position to match the microphone.
For some of our productions we are happy to use remote actors, who record in their own homes and send us the audio. We are happy to help actors with their setups so that they can get the best recording they can for us. We can do this by answering questions, recommending equipment or setups, and helping people learn the process of recording.
Our Communications
While our primary communication with our teams is usually via email, we will offer other options wherever possible.
We try to keep our English plain, and if any of our team members struggle to comprehend us or our work, we will happily talk with them until they feel they understand. We will always answer questions as simply, directly, and honestly as we possibly can. We will always make extra time to speak with our team whenever they need us.
We acknowledge different communication styles and we will always do our best to adapt to and work with the communication needs of our team members.
Where we may have real time meetings with team members (such as via the app Discord), if someone is unable to make the meeting, we will offer other options (such as voice chat), and regardless of other options taken, we will always supply them with a summary of the meeting and make sure they have as much chance to have input or ask questions as anyone who was present for the meeting.
We are beginning the process of learning about implementing Easy English versions of all our important documents. We plan to implement this by late 2022.
Writers who work with us are not required to use any particular formatting for their scripts; we are happy to interpret scripts written however feels best for our writers. Where writers would prefer to have a style guide, we will supply one.
We will convert scripts to larger text, audio, braille, or any other format that our actors might require to make it easier for them to read.
Parents & Carers
While this isn’t necessarily an access need related to disability, it is nonetheless a vitally important access detail for a huge number of people around the world.
We want to make sure we can include parents and caregivers in our teams should they wish to join us, and we know that care for children or adult dependents can be extremely expensive and difficult to organize.
We welcome carers to bring their children or adult dependents to rehearsals or recording sessions if they are comfortable with that; we will always welcome your loved ones with as much warmth as we do you. We will do what we can to make sure the experience is as quick, painless, and un-boring for you and your loved ones as we possibly can.
If carers would prefer to leave their children or adult dependents with an appropriate qualified carer of their own choosing while working with us, we have a small dependent care subsidy of approximately AU$100 per day to help cover the costs of doing so.