Learning by Doing Experiments in Accessible Technology at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Introduction

Museum Governance, Leadership, Management

Educators, Docents, Volunteers, Company Services, Security

Exhibitions and Collections

Information Technology

Operations/Facilities

Homo Resources

Fundraising and Development

Marketing and Public Relations

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Introduction

An accessible museum is a museum that welcomes people with all types of disabilities in its galleries, exhibitions and programs.  The accommodations made for these audiences increase a museum'south appeal for all who visit and thus heighten the museum's inclusiveness.

Creating an accessible museum requires an institution-wide commitment.  A museum must integrate accessibility into every aspect of its operations – governance, management, human resources, education, the registration or collections and curatorial departments, visitor services, information technology, and security. For instance, without that broad delivery, a museum might take an accessible building, but no accessible exhibits — or vice versa.

Every department within the museum can contribute. In some museums, accessibility is a priority considering the governing body and leadership have made a commitment to accessibility and inclusion. In others, individual departments or project teams take the lead and by example model accessible and inclusive practice.

Inability and accessibility are non simply legal issues. They chronicle to all aspects of a museum's operations, and strengthen the institution for everyone, staff fellow member and visitor alike. In its "Characteristics of Excellence for Museums ," the American Alliance of Museums (AAM)  includes accessibility in three of its core standards relating to a museum'southward public trust and accountability. The AAM notes that a museum:

• strives to be inclusive and offers opportunities for various participation;
• demonstrates a commitment to providing the public with physical and intellectual admission to the museum and its resources;
• complies with local, state, and federal laws, codes, and regulations applicable to its facilities, operations, and administration.

An inclusive museum has an ongoing delivery to the communities it serves, to awareness training for staff, and to sensitivity in hiring.  Diversifying the museum's staff is one of the best ways to welcome everyone — and a not bad place to outset building an accessibility culture.

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Museum Governance, Leadership, Management

A museum's governing body[i] bears the ultimate responsibility for the institution, ensuring that it operates according to the relevant laws and codes of ethics. The governing board hires the master executive and together they set up the tone for the museum, establishing policies and overseeing their implementation. The board ensures that the museum fulfills its mission, providing the public with physical and intellectual access to the museum and its resources. The Board also ensures that the institution complies with local, state, and federal laws, and codes and regulations that are applicable to its facilities, operations, and administration. Thus, the board of the museum must exist aware of the implications of legislation regarding people with disabilities for its establishment, and must encourage its institution to adopt inclusive practices, thereby ensuring that the museum is open and attainable to everyone.

The Director or CEO of the Museum ensures that the establishment complies with the law and views accessibility and inclusiveness every bit assets for the entire organization, non just i or two departments.  Directors atomic number 82 in ensuring that accessibility concerns are not limited to visitors. Museums and their resources should exist hands available to all, including the museum staff and board, consultants, designers, volunteers, performers, teachers, technicians, and others. Accessibility leads to inclusion, so it is a fashion to build and engage larger audiences, and a way to make a museum welcoming to all, company and staff alike.

Graphic representing the Americans with Disabilities Human action

Each museum must navigate ADA regulations and arrive at solutions that best suit its facilities and resources. Merely there are a number of aspects of complying with the law that are applicative to all institutions that receive federal funding. Museums must:

1.  Appoint a staff member as ADA/504 coordinator (accessibility coordinator).
2.  Postal service public notice of events and activities that explains that the museum complies with the Rehabilitation Act and ADA.
3. Establish internal grievance procedures for individuals with disabilities.
4. Bear a self-evaluation of all policies, practices, and programs to ensure that they are equally accessible to people with and without disabilities.
5.  Develop an ADA plan, with a timeline, to identify what changes need to be made to ensure that all programs are accessible to all.

As these points imply, museums must provide for all visitors in an integrated setting and make reasonable modifications in their policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access to individuals with disabilities. ADA regulations directly impact a museum's facilities and its human resources policies and procedures, and also have implications for exhibitions and programs.

To work toward accessibility and inclusion, some museums form interdepartmental "Admission/Accessibility Committees or Teams." These groups meet regularly to review accessibility issues for visitors and for staff members. Discussions might include examining if the museum is welcoming to all visitors, testing the ease of using the telephone answering organization, ensuring that the museum'southward website is accessible, and preparation staff to serve disabled patrons.

Also internal groups, a museum tin find out if its accessibility plans will truly address the needs of its local community by creating a focus group of people with disabilities. Such a focus group allows the museum to be inclusive in planning, taking the outset-hand perspective of people with disabilities into account, as well equally in implementing its programs.

All museums develop strategic plans for their operation. A museum'due south strategic programme must piece of work seamlessly with its ADA or access plan to integrate inclusive goals throughout the museum. Strategic planning teams should understand the benefits of inclusive practices for people with and without disabilities.

The Cultural Access Network of New Jersey has created a cocky-assessment planning survey to aid organizations go started on an access plan. For an interesting discussion most the implementation of such a disability action programme run into " Museums: A Whole New World for Visually Impaired People," by Barry Ginley.

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Educators, Docents, Volunteers, Visitor Services, and Security Guards

A group of blind visitors walking through a museum.

All museum staff and volunteers who interact direct with the public are key in creating an environs that welcomes all visitors. All staff members and volunteers can serve as internal advocates and support the museum's efforts to create an inclusive culture.Y'all cannot underestimate their affect on visitors' impressions of a museum and on the quality of visitor experiences. In "Take a Seat," a light-hearted commodity from Museum (Sept/Oct 2008) Steve Tokar underscores the importance of making all visitors comfy in museums. You lot can detect the commodity on the American Alliance of Museums web site if y'all are an AAM member.

Catherine Kudlick discusses dramatically different visits to an fine art museum and a history museum for 2 visitors with visual impairments in "The Local History Museum: So Near and Nonetheless, And then Far" (The Public Historian, Leap 2005).

Educators

Because they develop programs for the public, educators are often the starting time people in a museum to understand and speak up for the needs of visitors with disabilities. Educators tin ensure that all visitors appreciate and learn from the museum's exhibitions and programs.

In some museums, educators piece of work in teams with curators and exhibition designers to develop wall labels, interactive exhibition components, and activities and programs that enhance the exhibition experience. Anybody'southward Welcome: the Americans with Disabilities Human action and Museums, a publication of the American Alliance of Museums, explains how the ADA affects museum exhibitions.

"Effective advice" is a term used past the Department of Justice. It ways that all visitors should take access to the content of an exhibition, public programme, moving picture, or performance through accommodations that make content attainable. Accommodations include adaptive devices such every bit tactile maps and drawings, audio-clarification, large impress brochures, assistive listening devices, sign interpreters, captioning, and induction loops.

Public programs enhance exhibition content, helping visitors further explore the topic of an exhibition. Access to public programs must be available to all visitors, with special accommodations made for people who are deafened or hard of hearing and who are blind or have depression vision. Educators can contribute to a museum'south accessibility if they understand the range of disabilities in a museum's audiences, their impairments, and the accommodations they need to brand programming accessible. Educators who utilize multimodal or multi-sensory teaching techniques can appoint all audiences.

As well designing accessible features for all visitors, educators tin create access programs specifically tailored to the needs of people with disabilities. Customized programs are a focused way to achieve that audition. Museums with examples of such programs include the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (NY), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Scientific discipline (Boston), the Smithsonian Establishment.

Docents, Volunteers and Visitor Services

Docents, Volunteers and Visitor Services are of import points of access to a museum for people with disabilities.

Docent talks with a group of bullheaded museum visitors.

They tin can orient people to the building's spaces and provide guidance in exhibitions. Whether they work in the galleries, at the information desk, or in the museum shop, they should be trained to feel comfortable talking with people with disabilities and to understand their special needs in the museum. They should be able to create materials for visitors in accessible formats, distribute them to the public, and communicate with visitors who have diverse communication needs.

Security guards

Of course they safeguard the museum's facilities, collections, staff and visitors. But in some parts of the museum they are the primary contacts for visitors. Even so often they are contract employees, not regular museum staff. In both cases, it is essential that they are trained to interact effectively with all of a museum'southward audiences and understand what programs the museum offers people with disabilities.

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Exhibitions and Collections

Registrars, collections managers, conservators, curators, and exhibition designers all have roles to play in an inclusive museum.  Museums concord their collections in the public trust and are"grounded in the tradition of public service."[two] All museum staff must be aware of the implications for their job of inclusive do, whether their contact with the public is straight or indirect.

Access to collections, exhibitions and programs

Equal admission must be provided to everyone who wants to employ a museum'southward facility or to research its collections. That principle is reflected in the American Alliance of Museum'due south Code of Ideals and Characteristics of Excellence for U.Southward. museums.When a museum embraces inclusive do, its registrars and collections managers develop their policies with accessibility in listen, alerting the institution to any barriers that might prohibit people with disabilities from using a museum's collections for enquiry. Collections managers and registrars who provide access to the museum's database online should know how the ADA affects websites and online information.  Their participation in a museum's access committee can be disquisitional to ensuring museum-wide accessibility.

Conservators

They may be asked to assess whether an object or objects can be used in programs for people who take visualimpairments or other disabilities. Conservators, registrars, and collections managers must stay abreast of new developments in interactive technology (eastward.thousand. augmented touch on and 3-D imaging) and how they might make collections more than accessible for people with disabilities.

Young man wearing white cotton wool gloves touches a white marble Roman body sculpture.

Curators

Discussions within museums about accessibility ofttimes focus on issues of physical and programmatic access and exhibition blueprint. Simply with a few exceptions, trivial attention has been given " to disability-themed content inside exhibitions and collections."[3]

The Code of Ethics for Curators issued in 2009 by CurCom states that

"Curators must commit themselves to developing the museum drove and estimation of its objects with a respect for the needs of all potential patrons and in compliance with but non restricted to, the standards for accessibility gear up along in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Curators are responsible for ensuring that all verbal and written interpretation is accurate and accessible, physically and cognitively, whether prepared by themselves or their subordinates." (The statement comes nether Curatorial Responsibilities for Interpretation, Section Four. B. of CurCom, the American Brotherhood of Museums' professional network for curatorial practice and collections research, intendance, and exhibition).

It is also condign clear that curators must exist a part of a museum's efforts to create full accessibility to its resource and serve all audiences by doing the following:

• developing exhibition narratives that include inability as a subject;
•  collaborating with disabled people in shaping projects;
•  assessing the institution'due south collections to run across how they might relate to bug related to people with disabilities;
• addressing gaps in the museum's collections through proactive collecting.

In the Great britain, the Enquiry Eye for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester explored problems related to disability and inclusion in museum exhibitions and collections. Cached in the Footnotes: the Representation of Disabled People in Museum and Gallery Collections r eports on the first phase of the study which surveyed Great britain museum and gallery collections for materials that relate to the lives of disabled people, both historical and gimmicky; examined how this material is displayed, interpreted, and made accessible to the public; isolated factors affecting how information is collected, documented, and made available to the public; and determined the influences on curators' attitudes towards this data and its broadcasting.

In general, the written report institute that museums take many more items in their collections related to disabilities than expected, simply "the display and representation of disability is comparatively uncharted territory for nigh museums in Britain."[4]

A 2d phase of this project involved working with disabled activists, artists, and cultural practitioners who collaborated on creating nine museum projects across the UK in 2007 and 2008. This project was designed to ane) uncover textile evidence in museum collections that could contribute to a broader public agreement of inability; 2) develop narratives that would engage audiences on the bailiwick; 3) evaluate the impact of the displays; and iv) disseminate the findings.

The individual projects included:

"Life Beyond the Label" at the Colchester Castle Museum that used objects, personal testimonies, flick, and art to reveal the lives of disabled people in Colchester.

"Behind the Shadow of Merrick," a short film created by the Royal London Hospital Athenaeum and Museum. The picture show uses objects, documents, and stories related to Joseph Merrick (more widely known as the 'Elephant Man') to examine issues and attitudes surrounding inability in the by and nowadays.

"Talking nearly Disability and Art" explored and interrogated images of inability in eight paintings from the Birmingham Museum and Fine art Gallery. Each painting showed a representation of disability, and new interpretations included how the painting relates to disabled people'due south experiences, personal stories inspired by the paintings, audio descriptions, and additional background information from a curator.

The project report, Rethinking Disability Representation in Museums and Galleries highlights each of the nine museum projects and assesses their impact, finding that visitor response was overwhelmingly positive, peculiarly to the personal narratives and life stories of disabled people. Information technology concludes that "If the museum is seem as a valued and trustworthy institution by the public…then the inclusion of 'authentic' voices and stories only heightened the museum'southward potential to function as a forum where potentially challenging and sometimes controversial issues can be discussed."[5]

Several U.S. exhibitions demonstrate the potential that looking to communities of artists with disabilities can unleash for contemporary art museums.

"Sight Unseen" focusing upon photographs by artists who have visual impairments;

"Wiser than God" and "Younger than Jesus" juxtaposing the work of younger and older artists;

"When I'm Threescore-Four" highlighting the fine art of people over fifty.

Exhibition Designers

Exhibition designers, whether members of a museum's staff or outside contractors, take a cardinal role to play in making exhibitions accessible to every visitor who comes to a museum. The designer'due south understanding of the legal requirements for accessibility tin can aid the museum staff incorporate these principles and lead to making the institution a more welcoming, inclusive identify.

Exhibitions should follow the state and federal guidelines for accessibility and conform groups that include people who utilize a wheelchair or have other mobility restrictions. The placement of display cases and exhibit labels should take into business relationship a comfortable viewing zone for all visitors. Seating should be provided for visitors who wish to residual or to sit down and take a longer look at works of art. Showroom labels should apply easily legible type size and font and be printed in contrasting colors.

Lighting enhances the accessibility of an exhibition. In a example where an object requires depression light, alternating means of admission should be provided (e.chiliad., photographs or copies). In general, all exhibit elements should be useable by all visitors and exhibit content presented in multiple formats. For example, using tactile objects and elements that apply other senses like hearing and odor can enhance experiences for all.

The Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design details how exhibition content, label text and pattern, and audiovisuals and interactives can be made accessible. Information technology also specifies the circulation route, exhibition article of furniture, color and color dissimilarity, lighting, public programming spaces, children'due south spaces and emergency egress.

The Standards Transmission for Signs and Labels (by Anna-Marie Kellen, 1995) is useful for signs and labels that address the needs of wheelchair users and visitors who accept low vision.

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Information technology Teams/Departments

It teams/departments can make electronic information available in accessible formats. Every bit websites and social media get increasingly of import to museums, these teams tin contribute to institution-wide planning initiatives if they understand how people with disabilities use technology.

A museum's website provides an important means of access to the establishment, and for some people information technology'southward an alternate way of visiting. However, there are design barriers that can limit the experience a museum offers online. For example, blind website visitors cannot meet graphic illustrations of a painting or a slice of sculpture. Merely alternative text in web page lawmaking tin can describe the images. Users with mobility impairments that accept difficulty using a mouse can admission website functions with keyboard commands. Deafened visitors tin can access the information in videos if they are captioned. People with cognitive disabilities, colour blindness, and low vision may need software and adaptive strategies that can be built into the website design. Ideally, accessibility should be taken into account before a site is designed.

Websites can provide an alternative way of accessing exhibitions and collections, and they tin can prepare people with disabilities for their visit to a museum by explaining the resources available. It is critical to design sites that are as attainable as a museum's concrete facilities."Why Web Accessibility Matters for Cultural Institutions" past Sharron Rush explains legal requirements too every bit typical problems and gives applied guidelines and examples of website redesign.

A woman in a museum workshop using a tablet to examine a painting.

With planning and design, mobile apps for paw-held devices like smart phones and tablets tin can piece of work for all museum audiences.  They tin can enhance the feel in the museum and continue the experience afterward their visit. Equally more museums develop mobile apps, IT departments must stay beside of engineering developments in this field.

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Operations/Facilities Teams

Operations and facilities proceed the museum operating finer and efficiently. They can implement plans to brand a museum's buildings ADA compliant,  and they can brand provisions for inclusive safety and evacuation procedures. They can too institute emergency training procedures for security and other operational staff. In smaller institutions, an access commission might take on these roles.

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Human being Resources Departments/Teams

Human resources personnel ensure that individuals with disabilities who work for the museum take accomodations equal to all other employees. HR policies can institute an inclusive culture for a museum. Hr might too be charged with creating an institution-broad access commission and creating staff training opportunities most people with disabilities

Job descriptions and job advertisements must take the ADA into account. Hour departments can discover assistance in crafting job descriptions that comply with ADA regulations on the Job Accommodation Network, " Accommodation and Compliance Series: Job Descriptions, " past Beth Loy, Ph.D., and at Career Onestop, the U.South. Section of Labor'southward Career Center.

Recent chugalug-tightening at many museums means museums often rely upon consultants for basic functions. In those cases, human resource and operations staff are responsible for ensuring that outside curators, exhibition and graphic designers, conservators, fabricators, architects, and others comply with ADA regulations.

ADA compliance is critical to facilities built or renovated with public admission in heed and it must be consciously addressed with architects and contractors involved in any structure project. The choice process for whatever major contractors should reverberate these these concerns.

Across compliance with legal requirements, museums can create an inclusive culture past belongings regularly scheduled establishment-wide training sessions. These can ensure that everyone on a museum's staff is comfortable interacting with people with disabilities. Examples of such programs include Art Beyond Sight'south "Inability and Inclusion Training for Museums and Cultural Institutions." Fine art Beyond Sight'due south Inability Training Handbook is likewise useful in this regard.

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Fundraising and Development

A museum'south accessibility can become an asset for its Development Part. Having a regularly updated ADA plan is a requirement of some federal and state funding agencies.  Beyond that, an inclusive institution is in a stronger position to appeal to funders because of its greater capacity to build and maintain diverse audiences. A museum can employ accessibility as an asset in grant applications for general operating back up, collections direction, educational programs, exhibitions, and for membership evolution.

A museum might also position itself to answer to bug of concern to land and federal legislators and/or special initiatives. The American Brotherhood of Museum'southward report " Museums on Call: How Museums are Addressing Health Bug " demonstrates how programs relating to Alzheimer's, autism, and vision loss can position a museum differently in the eyes of policy makers.

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Marketing and Public Relations Teams

Often museums work very hard to go inclusive and then neglect to tell anyone near it! An of import part of making a museum attainable is promoting the accessible programs and exhibitions. The goal is to brand certain that news well-nigh these resources reaches people with disabilities.

Staff involved with marketing and public relations should piece of work with educators to reach out to various constituencies, sympathise their needs, and communicate how the museum meets those needs through its special programs and exhibitions. Together they can create collaborations and partnerships that will build museum audiences.

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Footnotes

[1] When a museum is part of a larger establishment (e.g., a university, corporation or governmental entity), the governance structure can vary and the museum may not have a governing lath.
[2] American Brotherhood of Museums, Code of Ethics for Museums Accessed Jan 27, 2014.
[3] Majewski, J. and Lonnie Bunch. (1998) "The Expanding Definition of Diversity: Accessibility and Disability Civilization Problems in Museum Exhibitions," Curator, Volume 41, Number iii: 153-161″
[4] Buried in the Footnotes: the Representation of Disabled People in Museum and Gallery Collections, Inquiry Centre for Museums and Galleries, Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester. 2004. P. 15." Curator, Volume 41, Number 3: 153-161
[5] Rethinking Disability Representation in Museums and Galleries, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester. 2009, p. 163.
Buried in the Footnotes: the Representation of Disabled People in Museum and Gallery Collections, Research Heart for Museums and Galleries, Department of Museum Studies, Academy of Leicester. 2004. P. 15." Curator, Volume 41, Number 3: 153-161

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