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Accessibility

Ruth Eckerd Hall is committed to providing accessibility for every member of our audience and staff and provides the following accessibility accommodations for our patrons and staff

Seat Accommodations

We have a wide selection of accessible seating including wheelchair and companion seating, aisle seats, ramp access, space for a service dog, and more. Special accommodations should be requested at the time of purchase. Once entering our venues our staff will be able to assist you in finding your seat.

Ramp access is available at each gate when visiting The Sound.

Elevators

Elevators are available at the ground level accessing the Ruth Eckerd Hall upper lobbies, the Margarete Heye Great Room, the Dimmitt Lounge, the Hoffman Family Dress Circle Room and the Marcia P. Hoffman School of the Arts. The Bilheimer Capitol Theatre elevator is located near the main lobby on the west side of the building, providing access to the Dress Circle Lounge, Loge Boxes, The Hideaway Bar, Frenchy’s Rooftop Terrace Lounge and seating in the Mezzanine.

Accessible Parking & Entry

Ruth Eckerd Hall: There are designated drop-off points at each entrance for easy access to the lobbies as well as clearly marked free accessible parking spaces. For additional assistance, please ask a parking lot attendant for direction. Overflow accessible parking is available.

Nancy & David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre: There are designated drop-off points at the main entrance for easy access to the lobby. Parking is available, free of charge at the City Hall parking lot, The Harborview Center (event permitting) and all City street parking lots. Street meters are available after business hours and all day on weekends. Valet Service is suspended at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sign Language Interpretation: If you require a sign language interpreter, please submit a written request to the Patron Services manager at least four (4) weeks prior to the event date.

Mail to: Patron Services Manager, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, FL 33759

Hearing Assistance Systems

Patrons with a hearing disability may enjoy use of our state-of-the-art infrared Assistive Listening Device system free of charge. Listeners use a compact, portable receiver and earphones to hear clearly and easily from anywhere in the seating area. Please note, we will need to hold your driver’s license or a credit card until the listening device is returned. Please speak to the House Manager on duty to request an Assistive Listening device.

At The Sound, Assisted Listening instructions will be available. Please see a Guest Services team member for assistance.

Join The Sound's Wireless Network.
Download the free Listen EVERYWHERE app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Access the channel of your choice and enter any required password if the channel is designated as private.
Use your own headphones or earbuds to access audio.

Restrooms

Accessible restrooms are located near all event spaces, classrooms and administrative offices. Family style and accessible restrooms and available at The Sound near South Gate 2 and North Gate 1.

For more information about venue accessibility or to schedule a tour, contact Patron Services at 727-712-2707 or svillasuso@rutheckerdhall.net.

Service Animals

Our venues support the rights and attendance of all persons with disabilities that rely on the special skills of a trained service animal.

We do not support pets being misrepresented by their owners as service animals, when they are not.

Venue Service Animal Definition: A ‘service animal’ is defined as “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability.”

Emotional support or comfort animals are not considered service animals under the ADA and therefore are not allowed. Please note that all service dogs, including those from out of state are required to have a valid rabies certificate.

Measures to Support Accessibility

Ruth Eckerd Hall Inc. takes the following measures to ensure accessibility:

Include accessibility throughout our internal policies.
Assign clear accessibility goals and responsibilities.
Employ formal accessibility quality assurance methods.

Conformance Status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Ruth Eckerd Hall Experience is partially conformant with WCAG 2.0 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

Additional Accessibility Considerations

Although our goal is WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, we have also applied some Level AAA Success Criteria: Images of text are only used for decorative purposes. Re-authentication after a session expires does not cause loss of data. And all videos are captioned