Professor Kudlick Discusses Accessibility for Disabled at Movie Theatres

KQED-FM (SAN FRANCISCO) -- But some historic Bay Area theaters are lagging behind — notably San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, which was built in 1922. “All sorts of people with disabilities have been saying, ‘Look, we can’t access half the theatre. It’s not available to us,’” says Catherine Kudlick, who directs the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, which hosts Superfest, touted as “the world’s longest running disability film festival.” Kudlick is among several people interviewed for this story who want the famed San Francisco movie palace to make a variety of accessibility upgrades, including providing more desirable seating options for wheelchair users, implementing audio description and closed captioning technology for people who are hearing or sight impaired, and making the stage and mezzanine accessible to people who can’t climb stairs.