News
Guide Dogs partners with Adelaide Fringe in 2021
At Guide Dogs, we are committed to improving accessibility in our community through practical support and education.
That’s why this year, we are proud to be an Accessibility Partner for the 2021 Adelaide Fringe, one of South Australia’s premier events, which kicked off on February 19.
Chief Executive Officer of Guide Dogs SA/NT, Aaron Chia, said everyone should be able to experience the joy that Adelaide Fringe and the broader arts industry brings to peoples’ lives.
“We are proud to be an accessibility partner and support Adelaide Fringe in creating a welcoming and safe environment for people of all abilities,” said Aaron.
As part of the partnership, Guide Dogs SA/NT earlier this month provided the festival’s access volunteers with Human Guide Training, a challenging exercise designed to raise awareness of the importance of accessibility.
The training teaches effective techniques for safely guiding a person who is blind or has low vision and included assisting blindfolded members of the group out of the Adelaide Fringe office and into the city’s streets. Participants experienced being both blindfolded and acting as a guide.
Image caption: Fringe volunteers take to the streets of Adelaide for Human Guide Training.
Adelaide Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said Fringe is excited to offer the Access Guide, ensuring audiences with access requirements can enjoy the magic and fun of Fringe.
“This year we have implemented a number of new website developments, adding an access widget and a multitude of features to make the Fringe site easier than ever to navigate.”
The access widget on the website can increase the standard cursor size, change the text size, switch on a dyslexia font, provide assistive keyboard navigation and has a screen reader functionality.
You can view the Adelaide Fringe’s 2021 Access Guide at http://adlfrin.ge/AccessGuideGD.
Image caption: Guide Dog Trainer Kath, Marketing Manager Desiree and Dog Services Manager Dan, with dogs Rayne and Jazi, welcoming the launch of the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Access Guide. Credit: Fumi Takagi, Adelaide Fringe.
