Accessibility or misbehaviour: ableism in theatres

Recent public debates about actors challenging audience members’ smartphone use during live theatre performances have foregrounded etiquette, distraction and theatrical immersion while overlooking smartphones’ role in enabling disabled people’s cultural participation. This article examines the tensions between normative expectations of audience behaviour and the use of smartphones as interfaces for accessibility technologies. Drawing on scholarship on ableism, psycho-emotional disablism and disability disclosure, it argues that framing smartphone use as inherently inappropriate reproduces exclusionary assumptions about legitimate participation. Disabled audience members risk having their access needs misrecognised, experiencing scrutiny and feeling compelled to disclose personal information to justify their behaviour. Such pressures can undermine belonging and discourage cultural participation. The article argues for an ethics of anticipatory access, in which theatres and cultural organisations develop policies that recognise diverse modes of participation without requiring disabled people to explain or defend their needs. It positions accessibility as a shared institutional responsibility rather than an individual accommodation.