Catering for SpeciaL NEEDS

The Erin Arts Centre has always been anxious to meet the different needs of people using the Centre - with particular care taken for those who suffer some form of disability. It is our wish to ease the practical difficulties faced by people whose hearing or sight is impaired, or who use a wheelchair, and we have introduced facilities to make life in the Erin Arts Centre easier for these groups.

• There are special parking facilities for the disabled and there is a ramped entrance to the front and rear of the building.
• In the Centre's main area there is a Sennheiser Infrared Hearing System for people with impaired hearing.
• There are portable wheelchair ramps for stepped areas within the Centre, giving full access to the whole Centre, including the Box Office, bar and toilet facilities.

Patrons with special needs are advised to inform the Box Office, so that we can be ready with the appropriate assistance - phone +44(0) 1624 832662, fax +44(0) 1624 836658 or email information 'at' erinartscentre.com.

Accessibility and the Internet

Our commitment to those with special needs extends to our Web site. Its design and construction conforms as closely as possible to international Accessibility guidelines, which deal with issues affecting a disabled person's rights to access information on the Internet (follow the link below for an article on Accessibility). Such users rely on assistive devices, e.g. screen or Braille readers, to negotiate Web sites.

If you use such a device and you experience difficulties with any part of our site, or if you know someone who does, please let us know. We have a special email address for such feedback - support 'at' erinartscentre.com.

Web standards

Making a Web site such as erinartscentre.com as accessible as possible to those who rely on assistive devices has enormous benefits for everyone. The original ideals of the Internet - that information should be available to ALL users - become much closer to reality.

In the early days of Web design, creators of Web sites were carried away by the new technology - design was king, often to the exclusion of many users. The introduction of Web standards was a long-overdue reaction; all major browser developers and most responsible Web designers now embrace these standards.

What this means is that as long as Web pages comply with the standards, they will display properly in all current browsers from developers such as Mozilla, Opera, Apple and Microsoft (click here for the full list of current recommended browsers).

We are extremely diligent in our compliance with Web standards. Every page is checked by an online validation service provided by W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium) to make sure there is nothing in the code which will prevent users from seeing the page properly (provided they themselves are using a modern, compliant browser). Every time a page is updated, we submit it to the validation service before it goes live.

This diligence is for one purpose only - to make sure the Erin Arts Centre Web site is as accessible as possible to everyone - able and disabled alike.