Accessibility in Museums: bringing down barriers

 



 First Posted: 3rd May 2017
 In Industry Trends And Critical Analysis

Accessibility

[noun: accessibility definition: the quality of being able to be reached or entered] 

‘Accessibility allows us to tap into everyone’s potential’ – Debra Ruh (founder of TecAccess providing accessible software and advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities).

According to government statistics, by 2012 the number of disabled people in the UK had risen to over 11 million. This makes up a substantial proportion of our population, our public. When viewed as organisations aiming to engage and enrich the lives of this public, it then follows that museums need to work on becoming more accessible to everyone – working to overcome any potential barriers people may face.

Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens

During my time at Ayscoughfee, I have had the chance to engage with a number of access projects.

The ‘11 Million Reasons to Dance Project’ worked to encourage diversity in the arts. As host to the project’s touring photography exhibition, Ayscoughfee was able to be a site of both inspiration for potential dancers, and to work towards broadening people’s view of those living with a disability. The exhibition provided information as to how disabled people could gain access to cultural dance projects and encouraged a more diverse audience to come to the museum.

Spalding Safe Spaces also works towards making the museum more accessible – in this case being more concerned with mental disability. Through this project, the museum encourages vulnerable individuals to utilise its provision of a peaceful, reflective environment for them to utilise.

I am now working with the museum to produce a series of interpretation leaflets for both the building and gardens translated into Braille, making the museum site and collection more accessible to people with visual impairments. If a success, the leaflets may be followed by a number of room boards, also being translated into Braille and dotted around the various museum rooms.

Barry Ginley [writing for Disability Studies Quarterly Journal vol33 no.3 2013] says:

‘Accessing museums has been difficult for people who are blind or partially sighted, often due to objects being placed in glass cases creating a barrier to access. Many museums around the world provide some accessibility but what happens when a museum looks at the issue in its entirety and sees blind and partially sighted visitors as important as everyone else.’

Ayscoughfee recognises that more accessibility work needs to be done, and through this current project hopes to improve the museums offer towards those with visual impairments.


By Elsa Trueman, Resilience Syndicate Intern at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome Jane Seaman, Projects and Evaluation Officer

Image
We finally manage to catch up with the recently-joined Jane Seaman as part of our Routes Into Heritage series, who has been busy ensuring we have a fruitful and exciting 2022 ahead of us.  Image credit: Jane, on a visit to St Peter's church Jane joined Culture Syndicates in December 2021 as Projects and Evaluation Officer. She has had a varied career including running her own business producing life-size realistic models and props for museums, Professional Development Manager for the Museums Association and, in more recent years, working on audience development and evaluation. Over the last fifteen years Jane has concentrated on working with clients to deliver their National Lottery Heritage Fund projects through evaluation and detailed analysis, enabling them to monitor project progress and reach a successful outcome.  Jane is now working with the Culture Syndicates team to deliver their current projects and bid for new contracts. We have really enjoyed having her on the team so f
Read more

Introducing: Yanqiu Autumn Dai, Strategic Advisor to the Culture Syndicates Board

Image
  Autumn is a highly qualified and experienced heritage researcher, practitioner, and consultant based in China. Educated at the University of California, she graduated with a BA in Art History and International Relations Global Business (IRGB) before completing her MSc in Visual Material and Museum Anthropology at the University of Oxford before embarking on a successful career in heritage and the arts around the world. She has worked in Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong as well as the U.K. for art market consultancies and diverse museums and galleries around the world. A particular highlight is her recent. work to help establish the new Grand Canal Museum in Hangzhou. Autumn is very well connected to the international art market and Chinese cultural investors and her expertise lies in applying anthropological research tools and qualitative methodologies to improve marketplace studies in the arts and cultural sectors, and to provide market solutions and strategies for organisations. S
Read more

Harry Wheatcroft - The Year of the Roses Project

Image
 Culture Syndicates are signposting you to a wonderful project The Year of the Roses. A partnership between Art Culture Tourism UK and OKAY! schools' magazine Italy this international project is dedicated to roses heritage in all their aspects, shapes, and colours.  ‘During these difficult pandemic times, we have created this project to uplift people around  the world - it is a way to release treasured memories of our roses, bringing family, friends  and places closer together. This wellbeing exhibition will share the roses' meaning and  creativity to a local as well as international audience’. You can send them, poems, words and images of roses and gardens as drawings, paintings, mosaics, frescoes, decoupage, collages, whichever form just follow the link at the bottom of this blog. A bit of local Nottingham heritage that you may or may not be aware of is the rose growers who seemed to reach their peak mid-20th century. Taking advantage of the poor clay soil the outskirts of No
Read more