Join us as we celebrate Deaf Awareness Week 2026 from Monday 4th to Sunday 10th May.
This year’s theme is ‘Right to understand – Together, we break barriers’. For the 18 million adults in the UK who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, these barriers are felt every time a show is uncaptioned or a museum tour is inaccessible. Breaking barriers is a theme that Stagetext has worked towards for more than 25 years, advocating for and providing deaf access for theatre, live performances, talks, museum tours, book festivals, comedy shows, films and videos.
Many deaf, deafened and hard‑of‑hearing audience members still miss out due to a lack of widely available captions, subtitles or accessible services and we believe that access isn’t a luxury, it’s a right. 1 in 3 people in the UK can benefit from captions or subtitles, and we will continue to champion deaf access by working with venues, creators and organisations to make sure everyone has the right to understand what’s being shared on stage, online or in person.
During Deaf Awareness Week, we’ll be hosting a free webinar for museums and heritage professionals, sharing helpful resources and sparking conversations about accessibility. We we also be encouraging people to go see their first live subtitled or captioned event – whether that be a tour, talk or theatre performance. Have a look at our What’s On pages to find an event near you.
See a captioned or live subtitled event
Celebrate Deaf Awareness Week by attending one of the many captioned events that are on. Experience the magic of seeing a live performance or talk and being able to understand every single word.
Book deaf awareness training
Access should never be an afterthought: it should be rooted throughout your organisation. We can help you achieve that. As an Arts Council England Sector Support Organisation, we provide training, support and advice to help make venues like yours more accessible.
Free Live subtitling webinar: Coming Soon
We’re hosting a free live webinar during Deaf Awareness Week. Details to be confirmed, sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear more.
Caption your event
If you’d like to caption or live subtitle your event, we can provide more than two decades of deaf access expertise to help prepare your venue or organisation for a more accessible future.
Top Tips for deaf awareness
We came up with a list of our top tips for making venues more accessible. The Stagetext team has given their advice for how theatres, museums, galleries, as well as online and digital work can be made more inclusive.
Why do we do it? Here’s what our users say:
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Get involved with us
If you’re a venue, we can help you make your events more accessible all year round, with training sessions and free resources including our Captioning Display Standards.
Looking for something to see? Find captioned and live subtitled events near you on our What’s On page.
Want to get in touch about something else? Drop us a line, we’re always happy to chat.
